A mum was left heartbroken as her baby's cancer lumps were "mistaken for neglect" by hospital staff.
First-time mum Sammie-Joe Smith, 30, claims she was referred to social services by medics who suspected potential abuse - but her daughter's symptoms turned out to be acute myeloid leukaemia.
Sammie-Joe from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, says she was aware of the symtoms as her sister Megan Smith sadly died from bowel cancer last year and had blogged about her gruelling journey.
But when she raised cancer concerns about her baby daughter at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, medics brought in social services instead.
Symptoms for leukaemia in babies include mottled skin, bruising easily and lumps emerging.
With baby Wendie-Lou showing these signs, Sammie-Joe was quick to raise her daughter's case with hospital staff but said she was stunned to then be investigated for potential abuse, BirminghamLive reports.
Wendie-Lou is now undergoing chemotherapy after Sammie-Joe sought a second opinion on her daughter's condition with consultants at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
After nine days of chemotherapy, the 14-week-old is starting to play and sit up on her own.
"It's important to be really persistent when you think something is wrong with your child," she said.
"I'd noticed changes in my baby for a while and kept telling doctors that.
"My gut instinct was that something was wrong. Childhood cancer may be rare but it still happens. Wendi-Lou was getting lumps in different places so took her to hospital several times.
"My family had seen this so much with my sister Megan that we kept photos to track the changes."
She added: "But when I showed medical staff at Worcester's Royal Hospital the lump and bruise on Wendi-Lou's torso and asked for a specialist bone marrow biopsy, they got social services involved to look into neglect and abuse.
"They weren't listening about the cancer and I was restricted from having access on my own to my baby for three days. I had to go to a child protection meeting and finally the consultant paediatrician said they thought it was something more medical.
"It was a horrendous time as I had alarm bells ringing over my baby's health and had to go through all that. My advice to everyone is to push for answers and get to the bottom of what the problem is.
"A mother knows her own child and it could save your baby's life."
Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We appreciate the impact and distress that a child being diagnosed with cancer has on any family and are sorry to hear of Wendie-Lou’s diagnosis.
"We are unable to comment on individual patient care for confidentiality reasons, but we would encourage the family to get in touch with us directly so that we can discuss their concerns about care.”
The Mirror has contacted Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for further comment.
