‘Sporty’ boy, 10, who woke up paralysed due to rare spinal tumour astounds doctors by being able to walk again in weeks

A “sporty” 10-year-old who woke up one morning paralysed from the chest down due to a rare spinal tumour has astounded doctors by being able to walk again in just five weeks.

Harry Goulden, from Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, is a “healthy” boy who loves football and playing with his twin brother, Jesse – but in October 2024 he suddenly started feeling pain in the back of his neck.

His mother, Dr Miriam Fine-Goulden, said Harry struggled to sleep that night due to the discomfort and when he awoke the next morning, he was paralysed and had “no power in his legs at all”.

Harry and his mother rushed to A&E at Evelina London Children’s Hospital where an urgent MRI scan revealed a rare tumour the size of a walnut growing on his spine which had also formed a blood clot, impacting his movement from the chest down – and they were informed he may “never walk again”.

He was taken via a children’s specialist ambulance for an emergency operation at King’s College Hospital, London, to remove the blood clot and a large part of the tumour to give him the best chance of regaining movement.

His consultant neurosurgeon at King’s said they have only seen a “handful” of young people with similar tumours in the last 10 years, but after five weeks of physiotherapy Harry has defied all expectations and is now back on his feet and back on the football pitch.

“Nobody expected him to recover as quickly and successfully as he has done, not the surgeon, not the neurologist, not the physiotherapists – but he did,” Miriam, a 46-year-old paediatric intensive care consultant, told PA Real Life.

“As soon as he found out it was a tumour, he decided it was something he could overcome and he would be able to walk again.

“He is a really sporty kid, he loves football and running around.

“His recovery was really remarkable and we didn’t expect this quickly that he’d essentially be back to normal.”

Harry first experienced pain in the back of his neck on October 8 2024.

“He didn’t go to football practice and he couldn’t sleep because the pain was bothering him,” Miriam said.

“In the morning, he still had neck pain and he couldn’t move his legs, he had no power in his legs at all… it happened very quickly.”

Miriam said she rushed Harry to A&E at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, where she works as a paediatric intensive care consultant, and where Harry was examined by a paediatric neurologist.

“They confirmed it was something seriously wrong and they ordered an urgent MRI scan,” Miriam said.

The scan revealed a walnut-sized tumour growing on Harry’s spine in which a blood clot had also formed, causing paralysis from the chest down.

“We were told he might never walk again,” she said.

The same day, October 9 2024, Harry was taken in an ambulance to King’s College Hospital where he received an emergency operation on his spine to remove the blood clot and a large part of the tumour.

The mass itself was benign and samples have been sent off for further testing to determine whether it is likely to grow back in the future, Miriam said.

She said Harry was “very nervous” when he woke up in the morning and could not use his legs but after finding out it was caused by a tumour and he would need an operation, he “decided he was going to be fine and he’d be able to walk”.

“He was reassured when he knew what it was, I think he felt worried when he didn’t know,” she added.

While Harry could not make use of his legs straight after the surgery, three-and-a-half weeks of extensive physiotherapy everyday at King’s and a further two weeks at a specialist rehabilitation hospital in Stanmore, north London, has helped him get back on his feet.

“It was a slow process – he stood up, then he was walking with a frame, then walking with crutches,” Miriam said.

“It took him five-and-a-half weeks to walk independently.”

Three months on and Harry is now back to his old self, running around and taking to the football pitch – which his mother said was “remarkable”.

“I was expecting him to be in hospital for a lot longer, I didn’t think he would regain normal function,” she said.

“When I first heard he wasn’t going to be able to walk again, I thought ‘okay fine, this is what his life is going to be like’.”

Miriam added her son received “amazing” care from the surgeons and physiotherapists and she felt it was his drive and motivation that contributed to his speedy recovery.

“He had such a tremendous self-belief and self-confidence and I think that really helped,” she said.

“He never complained, he smiled the whole way through hospital.

“Everyone was just so surprised by how quickly he recovered.”

Mr Bassel Zebian, Harry’s consultant neurosurgeon, said: “Harry presented with a rare Diffuse Leptomeningeal Glioneuronal Tumour.

“Despite being a busy centre for paediatric neuro-oncology, we have only seen a handful of young people with this type of tumour over the last 10 years.

“The tumour was high up in Harry’s spinal cord and had bled, resulting in loss of function from the chest down.

“We knew we had to act quickly to give Harry the best chance of walking again.”

He added: “The whole neurosurgical team is delighted with the progress Harry has made in a relatively short space of time.”