Cancer Patients Left Undiagnosed for Years

 

‘I know that I don’t have long left,' said Katie Pearson, 35, who has bowel cancer

Her late diagnosis two years after her first symptoms meant the cancer was already very advanced, having spread into her pelvis and lymph nodes. 

Despite treatment, the cancer spread further, and last September she was told that patients with cancer as advanced as hers aren’t expected to live more than a year.

‘I know that I don’t have long left,’ says Katie.

‘But I can’t allow myself to dwell on what’s happening as it will only destroy the time I have remaining.’

Every year, 40,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with this cancer. 

Last weekend, actress Lynda Bellingham, 66, revealed she, like Kate, is terminally ill after being diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer less than a year ago.

 Actress Lynda Bellingham, 66, is terminally ill after being diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer

Only 5 per cent of bowel cancer patients are aged under 50, which can lead to sufferers’ symptoms being overlooked by doctors. 

Last week, the mother of Stephen Sutton, the 19-year-old who died from bowel cancer after raising millions of pounds for the Teenage Cancer Trust, spoke of her anger that it took six months to diagnose his condition, despite his having three signs of cancer pain, weight loss and fatigue as well as a family history of Lynch Syndrome. This genetic condition increases the risk of bowel cancer.

‘He had gone from being a healthy, sporty young lad to having three of the signs of cancer, plus a family history, and all of that was ignored,’ Jane Sutton said. 

She stressed the importance of GPs listening to young patients and their parents so that early signs are not missed.

All of which has heartbreaking resonance for Katie. She was 29 when her first symptoms appeared. 

‘Every morning I would wake up with severe pain on the left side of my tummy,’ she says. 

As a professional dancer she had a very healthy lifestyle, eating well and was exercising for up to six hours a day, yet suddenly she felt tired and sluggish. CONTINUE READING

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