Girl, 4, diagnosed with brain tumour while visiting twin undergoing leukaemia treatment

A four-year-old girl was diagnosed with a brain tumour while visiting her twin brother as he underwent chemotherapy for leukaemia.

Winnie Shapland joined her brother Alfie in a tragic cancer battle after the twin's parents noticed she had developed a squint in her eyes.

Doctors at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital then diagnosed Winnie with a brain tumour, which has since been operated on and removed.

Mum Tamar Leat, 43, told how the double diagnosis was ''every parent's worst nightmare''.

Alfie and Winnie had been happy and healthy children until their family's world was turned upside down in September last year, when Alfie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Three months later, Winnie was visiting her brother when the family were given another bombshell piece of news.

Tamar, from Bideford, Devon, said: "I had taken Winnie to visit Alfie while he was having chemotherapy.

"The two of them have a special bond and are a lot calmer and happier when they are together.

"While we were there I mentioned to the doctors I didn't think Winnie was right.

"Thankfully they took me seriously and she was booked for a review and had a CT scan - all this happened while Alfie was having his chemo.

"They discovered she had an oval shaped brain tumour the size of a small plum. Without them taking me so seriously, she would have died.

"The oncology department were amazing and are life -savers for listening to me.

"Winnie was not showing all the signs and symptoms of brain tumour but there was enough there for her to have a brain scan.

"That CT scan undoubtedly saved her life."

Winnie had an emergency operation to drain water from her brain and ten days on underwent a ten-hour operation to remove the tumour.

She is still in hospital but is showing positive signs of making a good recovery.

But Tamar, a full-time mother, said the family including partner Andrew Shapland, 45, a self-employed gardener, and their 21-month old son William, have struggled to cope.

She said: "It has all just been horrendous and I often just burst into tears.

"Having this happen to one of your children is every parent's worst nightmare - to have it happen to our two beautiful twins is just unthinkable.

"But Alfie and Winnie have both been amazing. They just take it all in their stride. We can tell them on a basic level what is happening to them - but they just want to be home and playing with each other.

"They are quite different characters but they do have a strong bond. They are always asking about how each other is doing.

"It is devastating. It is your worst nightmare having twins that are both so seriously ill.

"Despite everything that has happened, we are trying to feel positive about the future.

"Alfie's chemo appears to be working and Winnie's brain tumour was benign. She has had the treatment to get it out and just needs to recover.

"We are lucky that she has not had many of the side effects to the operation, which can be very serious.

"He is doing OK, but he's got no hair, has reduced mobility and his behaviour has changed slightly with everything he has gone through.

"He is not so trusting with us like he used to be. I have tried to tell him the truth about his illness in a way he can understand.

"He knows he has poorly blood and he needs to have a lot of medicine to make him better.

"He also knows sometimes the medicine can make him feel poorly, but that it's still working."

It was when Tamar was away from home looking after Alfie in hospital when his twin sister Winnie began complaining of headaches.

Tamar said: "We didn't know if it was the stress of the situation or the anxiety of me being away that was causing them.

"I took her to a GP and his response was, 'Should I treat her or you?' I was just seen as a neurotic mum.

"I had a horrible feeling it was something in her brain but I'm no doctor and just hoped I was wrong. When Alfie was having chemotherapy at the RD&E, I pushed oncology doctors there for her to be assessed and they did.

"It was just horrendous and we couldn't believe we had twins who were both so ill.

"We were told there might be some lasting effects to her mobility, speech and co-ordination, but remarkably she seems OK. She just wants to go home.

"I feel like I'm being pulled in all directions. I just have to be with the child that's the sickest so I am currently staying in Bristol with Winnie while Alfie is at home with his dad.

"I just want them to get better so they can live happy and good lives."