A “sporty” 10 year old boy miraculously walked again just five weeks after waking up paralysed due to a rare spinal tumour. Harry Goulden experienced sudden neck pain in October 2024.
His mother, Dr Miriam Fine-Goulden, said Harry had trouble sleeping one night because of the discomfort. When he awoke the next morning he was paralysed and had “no power in his legs at all”.
The family, from from Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, dashed to A&E followed, where an MRI scan uncovered a walnut-sized tumour on his spine which had caused a blood clot, paralysing him from the chest down. Doctors warned that Harry might “never walk again”.
Harry in hospital
He was swiftly transferred to King’s College Hospital, London, for an urgent operation to remove the clot and part of the tumour, to give him the best chance of recovery. His consultant neurosurgeon at King’s noted that such tumours are extremely rare, having seen only a “handful” in the past decade.
Against all odds, after intensive physiotherapy, Harry has astonished medical professionals by walking again, returning to the football pitch, and continuing his active lifestyle.
“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.”
Harry had always been an active and ‘sporty’ child
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.
On the same day, 9 October 2024, Harry was rushed by ambulance to King’s College Hospital for an emergency operation on his spine to remove a blood clot and a significant portion of a tumour. The mass was benign, and samples have been sent for further analysis to ascertain the likelihood of regrowth, according to Miriam.
Intensive physiotherapy saw Harry take his first steps again in five-and-a-half weeks
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She said Harry woke up “very nervous” and unable to use his legs, but upon learning it was due to a tumour requiring surgery, he became optimistic about his recovery. “He was reassured when he knew what it was, I think he felt worried when he didn’t know,” she said.
Post-surgery, Harry initially couldn’t move his legs, but after three-and-a-half weeks of intensive daily physiotherapy at King’s and another two weeks at a specialist rehab hospital in Stanmore, he gradually regained mobility. Miriam said: “It was a slow process – he stood up, then he was walking with a frame, then walking with crutches.
“It took him five-and-a-half weeks to walk independently.”
Now, three months later, Harry has made a remarkable recovery, running around and even playing football, 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 wouldn’t be able to walk again, I thought ‘okay fine, this is what his life is going to be like’.”
Harry continues to improve post-surgery
(Image: © 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved)
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.”
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