Frank Cleal, 13, had been suffering with a limp that his parents believed was a sports injury
A teenager tragically lost his life after having a limp that he and his family thought was down to sport. His mum is now issuing a warning to other parents.
Frank Cleal, 13, from Hereford, died from osteosarcoma, an uncommon form of bone cancer. The young lad had been dealing with a limp since April 2019, which his parents, Emma and Ed, assumed was the result of a sports injury following a tumble during a rugby match.
They claim that GPs diagnosed Frank with a hamstring strain in May 2019 and prescribed him exercises. However, when these failed to alleviate the issue, a worried Emma took her son back to the GP, where he was diagnosed with cancer in June 2019.
Emma, a 46-year-old mother of two, said: “He had a very mild limp, we thought nothing of it and he didn’t. Coincidentally, he had a fall in rugby and we thought it was probably that.
“He’d always been completely normal and healthy. One day he said he had a slight limp and we just decided to keep an eye on it.
“That was literally the only symptom he had until he was diagnosed. The doctors asked questions about night sweats and weight and it was a ‘no’ to all of that.
“He was finally diagnosed in June 2019. The doctors said it was a hamstring strain and gave him exercises to do in May.
“The exercises weren’t helping and the limp was getting more pronounced. Frank was sent for an X-ray followed by an MRI, which revealed it was bone cancer and it turned out to be a tumour in his right femur.”
Emma, who operates a virtual assistance business, added: “He had a lot of chemotherapy, the first he had was for about three months. We could see it hadn’t shrunk and there was a tiny dot in the other leg. He then switched to another chemo.
“He had about nine or 10 months of chemotherapy. They replaced his leg bone with a metal prosthesis, from the top of his femur down to his shin to replace the bone.
“He learned to walk again. He finished chemo in March 2020 and then in May had the other leg done because it had spread to the other leg.
“He relapsed in November 2020, in his lungs this time. He had to have lung surgery. Then he was scanned in February 2021; they said he was terminal. It had grown so much in his lungs.
“We did so much with him – aeroplanes, helicopters, guns, police cars. It was only a short time, but he enjoyed it.”
Emma has cautioned parents about the absence of obvious symptoms, pressing them to seek medical advice ‘if they don’t feel right’.
Emma continued: “The main message is that, had I had known an unexplained limp could have been anything sinister, maybe the outcome could have been different. It’s horrendous, the worst thing in the world. If you’re really not sure, trust yourself and go to the doctors. Please read up the signs of childhood cancers, knowledge is power for this.
“I wouldn’t associate a limp with cancer, but had I known an unexplained thing could be cancer, I would have rushed him there sooner. It’s okay to have a prod and a feel of something that’s unexplained. Had I known, I would have pushed the doctors more.”
The family has established Be More Frank, a charitable fund supporting the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust – collecting more than £300,000 for families across Herefordshire, Powys, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Ceredigion.
Emma explained: “The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust supports families in various ways. Be More Frank provides grants to the six counties. We fund the grants for every single child in those counties.
“When Frank was ill, I give or take lived in hospital with him for months. There are so many costs with transport, food and hotels. It’s so expensive.
“We had to have fundraising, which is how we stayed afloat. When he died we wanted to give back.
“To be worrying about bills is not right at a time like that, if you don’t have to worry then that’s great. When he died it couldn’t have been the end of the story, we knew we had to do something in his honour.”
The family is backing the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust’s ‘You Know Them Best’ campaign to boost public understanding of childhood cancer warning signs and symptoms.
