A TEENAGER died from sepsis following a two year battle with cancer – after doctors initially thought she had a bulging disk in her back.

Bolton Coroner’s Court heard Shannon Parr, 13, was only found to have the disease after being hospitalised when she was shot with the pellet of an air rifle.

And inquest heard she first experienced back pain in 2017. She was taken to her GP in July that year and told it was likely growing pains, and then sent to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, where tests were carried out by a radiologist.

The tests recorded she had a bulging disk. But in June 2018 she was shot with the pellet of an air rifle and taken to hospital.

The doctors said she had not been hit as there was no hole in her clothes, but mother Natalie Parr insisted she had and a CT scan revealed a pellet inside her.

It was at this time it was revealed she had a Ewing sarcoma which had spread.

Shannon, who lived on Kingsley Street, Leigh, died at Wigan Infirmary in April 2020 after deteriorating while at home.

Pathologist Dr Melanie Newbould told the inquest the cause of death was sepsis.

She said this due to E. coli which was the result of neutropenia, caused by necessary chemotherapy.

Dr Guy Makin, who treated Shannon for two years at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, was quizzed on whether an earlier diagnosis would have increased her chances of survival.

He said the pain in her back was almost certainly a result of the illness.

But he told the hearing it was difficult to say whether or not it had spread at that point.

Dr Makin said if the disease was “localised” and had not spread then 75 per cent would be cured, and this would be less if it were metastasised.

He then said: “On a balance of probabilities an earlier diagnosis made a metastasised disease less likely.”

The inquest heard after multiple rounds of chemotherapy, Shannon underwent a biopsy of the tumour and the results were sent to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to see if there were any abnormalities in it which could be attacked.

The results were only returned after she died, but they showed there was nothing found which could have assisted doctors.

The inquest, before Assistant Coroner Peter Sigee, continues.