What are some symptons your child had before you found out he/she had cancer?

Well, 2 months before he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 3 years 10 months, he started waking up in the middle of the night crying because his legs hurted, and all covered in sweat, then the pain went to his arms and his ribs, he didnt have any energy to do anything he wouldnt leave the bed for days and he wouldnt eat anything either. My heart breaks just remembering those terrible days... it was so hard for him and for me, we were so afraid...but thank God, now he is much much much better and almost done with his chemotherapy. Hope this helps...

Thank you all for your answers.
Best wishes to all. Report It

My son didn't want to do anything. He was very slow at walking. He was very pale and clammy - not eating or drinking. His stomach was very badly distented, and he had a haematuria.

He was diagnosed with a Wilms Tumour which had started in the left kidney, grown over to the liver, then grown up the vena cava and attached its self to the right atrium of the heart.

Cancer is not one disease. It may occur at several sites and there is a wide variety of it. Symptoms and signs may vary to a great extent. And some common symptoms and signs are being shared by some common, benign, other diseases, as well as Cancer. Don't get worried. Some the the early signals for both child and adults are: swelling, pain, bleeding,cough, fever etc. but don't get afraid. these are being also shared by some other common diseases. Consult doctors or let me know every details of the case.

My daughter 6 (at the time Oct 2005) had so many bruises but I thought she was playing rough at school, about a week before she was diagnosed she became very pale. She complained of sore limbs and had trouble getting over an ear infection. But she went off to school each day, ate pretty normally and was a normal little girl. She was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukeamia. I reckon she had the bruises for a good 2 months, you could imagine what her school thought!

My son had very few symptoms. He was a little more tired and his appetite went down, but it did rebound later, while he still had cancer. He was diagnosed because a doctor noticed his bruises. He had ALWAYS had lots of bruises, but is one of 3 boys, so that was normal. His bruises looked deeper than normal though. She did a CBC blood work up and was then aware something was wrong. It took a bone marrow aspirate AND genetics testing to discover what was going on as he has a really rare cancer called MDS and a genetic mutation that goes along with it. Good luck!