Boys constant giggling was actually a sign of a brain tumour

When Gemma and Ed Young brought their baby home for the first time, they noticed that he was unusually joyful.

Their son Jack giggled day and night, and while they thought it was harmless at first, his parents began to suspect something was wrong.

His laughter kept the whole house awake at night, and his parents were forced to move his crib downstairs.

“There was no break from it, the chuckling sound was constant and for a long time we had no clue why," Gemma told The Sun.

“We just thought he was so happy all the time. I was just a new mum trying to get into a new routine, but after two months things became too much.

“We had to move Jack downstairs to sleep in the end as he was keeping his brother up too. It was exhausting.”

It wasn’t until the boy’s six week checkup that doctors took notice of the strange giggling.

The parents were passed on to an ear, nose, and throat specialist who then sent them to a neurologist, and they were finally given some answers about their son’s condition, according to The Sun.

“The doctor said he had hypothalamic hamartoma, meaning he had a benign brain tumour the size of a grape at the base of his brain, which causes gelastic seizures,” Gemma continued.

“It was a huge relief to know what was actually wrong with him, but so heartbreaking at the same time to think he had gone through all of that.

“All his other areas of development were so amazing, like his speech and understanding, but he was laughing all the time.”

Jack had the tumour removed, and the next day after the surgery, his constant chuckling stopped.

“The day after the operation we realised Jack had not giggled once, which was a strange feeling.

”We were sat around waiting for him to do it, but he didn’t. But when we did hear him laugh properly for the first time it was amazing.

“Hypothalamic hamartoma is so rare and I want other parents to know there is light at the end of the tunnel and things do get better.

"That operation changed Jack’s life, and ours, and we are so thankful.”

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