Travelling on an airplane can be stressful for a young child, but when they start complaining of serious pains in their body during a flight, you know that something out of the ordinary is going on.
This happened to be the case for little Claire Russell, a six-year-old who has just recovered from a form of bone cancer.
Claire, from Maryland in the US, was travelling on the plane when she began experiencing serious pains in her back. The pain got so bad that, as soon as they landed, mum Michelle brought her little girl to hospital for an examination.
Claire was initially put on a course of antibiotics, but when these did not solve her ailments, Michelle insisted that doctors probe her condition further.
In an x-ray, doctors discovered a tumour on Claire’s ribs and spine, and she was diagnosed with ewing sarcoma – a form of bone cancer that affects children and young people.
Claire had to endure a gruelling 17 rounds of chemotherapy in order to shrink the tumour for removal, but thankfully, a year later, she is cancer-free.
Michelle now credits the plane flight with saving her daughter’s life.
Speaking to MailOnline.com, she said: “Going on that plane could have saved our daughter's life; without it, we wouldn't have thought the pain in her back was anything more than muscle or growing pains.”
“Doctors have said to us they believe flying at such a high altitude could have put pressure on the cancerous tumour…it's shocking that flying alerted us to her cancer,” she added.
