A five-year-old girl was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, after a lump appeared on her neck following a football injury at school. Harper, from Pinxton in Derbyshire, was struck in the face by a football on 4 March 2025, with a lump developing hours later.
Her father, Aaron, initially expected doctors to confirm a cyst. However, scans and biopsies at King's Mill Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham led to a diagnosis of stage four neuroblastoma, which had spread to her chest, spine and neck.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) stated that the football injury did not cause the cancer, but it led to the discovery of the lump. Harper underwent 80 days of chemotherapy, followed by stem cell therapy, radiotherapy and six months of immunotherapy.
Harper, now seven, was given the all-clear in late August. She will continue to have scans every three months, as there is a 40% to 50% chance of the cancer returning in the first two years.