Dad says doctors dismissed his son's headaches as migraines for a year before terminal brain cancer diagnosis

A 14-year-old schoolboy from Corby, Northamptonshire, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour after a year of persistent headaches that his father says were dismissed as teenage migraines.

Stephen Hall said Max's headaches were so severe that he had to leave class to take painkillers in the school nurse's office for about a year. The family says Max saw a GP in January 2025 and was referred to Kettering General Hospital in April that year, but they allege doctors told him the headaches were normal migraines and advised ibuprofen instead of scans.

Seven months after that hospital visit, Max suffered a seizure at home on Nov. 27, 2025 and was rushed back to hospital by ambulance. En route, he had a second seizure and was placed on life support before being transferred to the intensive care unit at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre. Medical staff initially thought a viral infection, but CT and MRI scans performed on Nov. 19 revealed a large brain tumour that could not be operated on due to its location.

Biopsy results are pending to determine the cancer type. The tumour sits in the part of the brain responsible for communication, speech and memory, and Max has begun to experience short-term memory problems and nausea as the condition progresses. His father described Max as popular at school who loves everyone, adding that his memory is deteriorating, he is frequently tired, and his speech is starting to slur. "The tumour is really big, it’s been there a long time," Stephen Hall said. "If they had scanned him earlier, we could be having a totally different discussion right now."

The family has launched fundraising for treatment not available in the UK, with hopes of accessing cancer immunotherapy in Germany. Max remains hopeful, and his father emphasizes the desire to help others avoid a similar fate. "When you think it could’ve been avoided, it just seems totally wrong," he said. "We just really want as much help as we can for treatment for Max, but we also don’t want any other kids to be in this situation."

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group Medical Director, Hemant Nemade, expressed sympathy for the family and said the trust is reviewing the circumstances of Max’s care to learn from them: "Our thoughts are with Max and his family at this unimaginably difficult time. We are looking into the circumstances of his care with us to establish what happened in order to learn from this."

Experts note that about 13,000 people are diagnosed with brain tumours in the United Kingdom each year, including about 9,000 children and young people. Symptoms can include headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, behavioural changes and memory problems, as well as progressive weakness or paralysis and speech or vision changes. The case underscores concerns about timely imaging for persistent pediatric headaches and the potential consequences of missed opportunities for early diagnosis.