Plymouth girl receives unnecessary chemo after misdiagnosis

A 12-year-old girl from Plymouth endured six rounds of chemotherapy for a disease she never had after being misdiagnosed at age five, her family has said. Faye Condon was correctly diagnosed last year with a rare, untreatable form of muscular dystrophy, a diagnosis her mother claims was missed for seven years despite her repeated concerns.

Faye was first assessed at Bristol Children’s Hospital in 2019 after her mother, Christina Condon, noticed she was struggling to walk, keep up with peers, and was experiencing frequent falls. In late 2019, doctors diagnosed Faye with Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM), a rare autoimmune disease. Christina said she was told categorically that it was not muscular dystrophy, but she remained unconvinced as all tests for JDM, including a muscle biopsy, were negative. The biopsy instead pointed to a congenital muscle disease, she said.

Despite her objections, Faye began chemotherapy in January 2021, a standard treatment for JDM. She underwent six cycles over several months, starting around age seven. Her mother described the side effects as severe, saying Faye became "really poorly" and later contracted viral meningitis as a side effect of a blood...