What to Know
As parents, we understand that toddlers don’t always have the luxury of being able to vocalize what’s bothering them or even what’s hurting them. For some kids, what they describe as painful might even be a simple ache that isn’t serious. But when one mom’s three-year-old daughter was turned away despite her literal tears over stomach pains, the mom did what any parent would and continued to seek out answers. In her case, as described in an Instagram Reel, it’s a good thing she did.
Who ever said that mom’s intuition is to be messed with? Because, uh, this mom’s intuition proves that she was right to follow her gut instinct and didn’t just write off her daughter’s stomach pains as something un-serious, as she was at first advised to by doctors.
I’m not saying that the answer is always more serious than medical professionals think it is, but that doesn’t mean you should just accept the easy answer from a doctor and go about your day, especially when your child is brought to tears over their pain.
Being told “everything is fine” is not a cure-all for parents.
The mom, Olivia Mefford, wrote in the caption of a video of her daughter Blake crying that she and her husband took their daughter to the emergency room to get checked out, but were told the little girl “was just constipated.” I have a six-year-old who has had her share of constipation issues, and I know that little ones who have to go and cannot, well, go, feel it in their bellies. But I also know there is a huge different between that uncomfortable ache and pain that would make a child cry nonstop.
“What they didn’t see, what they missed, was a 20 cm tumor growing on her liver,” Olivia wrote in the caption of the video. “She was only three. She couldn’t explain what hurt or how badly. All she could do was cry, and trusted the professionals who told me it wasn’t serious. I replay this moment over and over, wondering how pain that deep was dismissed so easily. This isn’t shared for sympathy, it’s shared so other parents know this truth: you are not dramatic, you are not overreacting, and you are not wrong for pushing when something feels off. You know your child better than anyone.”
She added that Blake survived and that the family “fought” to make sure she was properly diagnosed and properly cared for. But if Olivia hadn’t trusted herself, and her daughter really, the outcome might have been far different. Sometimes, there is no one to advocate for yourself as a parent but you.
And when it comes to our kids, we are their best advocates.
After Olivia posted the Reel, other people commented to share their own stories of dealing with the healthcare industry that misdiagnosed or failed to diagnose their loved ones altogether.
“Takes the phrase ‘trust your gut’ to a whole other level,” one person wrote under the video. “You saved her life because you didn’t give up.”
Another added, “So many mommas have saved so many children because they listened to their gut and not the doctor.”
Olivia is proof of that, especially as she and her family continue to watch Blake recover and receive treatment related to her cancer diagnosis. Olivia added in a comment to someone else that Blake is now in remission two years after the beginning of her ordeal. However, when so many parents blindly trust doctors and other healthcare professionals with their kids, the outcome could have been extremely different. I think most moms can feel that one deeply.
