Young woman’s aggressive cancer was twice missed by medics – before student spotted it

A young woman revealed she had to visit a GP surgery three times with serious stomach and chest pains before her cancer was diagnosed – by a medical student.

Grace Callaghan 20, says she sought medical help after suffering for weeks with exhaustion, sickness and stomach pains.

It was only after two months of seeing doctors, including a visit to an out-of-hours emergency GP, that she was referred to hospital where she was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma.

It is an aggressive cancer which requires months of treatment.

Speaking from her family home in Glasgow, Grace said: “I have had to go to great lengths to get my cancer diagnosed despite being in serious pain and showing signs of illness.

“I saw a senior nurse at my GP practice who told me I had a virus which would clear up.

“My stomach and chest pains continued and I was in such pain that my mum took me to the GP out-of-hours service.

“I told the doctor there that I had detected a lump in my abdomen and I was sent home with antacid medicine and instructions to return to my own family doctor in the morning.

“Back at the GP surgery I was examined by a medical student who gave me a full check-up, detected the lump and called in a GP to re-examine me.”

It was then that she was referred immediately to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where vital tests were carried out along with an ultrasound scan.

Hospital specialists also gave her a CT scan and detected the cancer.

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“It was then I was told that I had neuroblastoma cancer, which typically presents in young people,” she added.

“Two and a half litres of fluid had to be taken from my stomach before treatment could begin.

“There have been some very tough times and I realise I have had a cancer which is challenging to beat, but I never look at survival rates.

“Instead, I remain upbeat and determined to campaign for earlier diagnosis of cancer in children and teenagers.”

She adds that she has successfully completed treatment and three-monthly scans check for any cancer recurrence.

The Sunday Post recently revealed that the UK was falling behind other European countries in the early diagnosis of cancers in young people.

The Childhood Cancer Diagnosis Study, led by Dr Sharna Shanmugavadivel at Nottingham University, found that young people suffering ­certain types of cancer, including bone tumours, are experiencing delays in diagnosis.

Nearly 70% of patients were diagnosed in an emergency department and 74% had up to three visits to doctors or nurses before cancer was detected.

The patients are calling for better training for doctors and other health professionals to help them detect cancers timeously.

The call is echoed by leading cancer doctors.

Dr Kate Wheeler, a paediatric oncologist and trustee of Neuroblastoma UK, said: “We need greater awareness in terms of health practitioners.

“It is undoubtedly frustrating to see a child patient who was diagnosed later than earlier, and the impact on the young person and their families is considerable.

“Education for primary health professionals (GP surgery health staff) and directing patients to the right pathways for treatment are vital.

“Research into treatment is also extremely important as some young patients have only a 50% chance of survival.”

Grace says she has had to put plans of becoming a children’s nurse on hold after suffering debilitating side-effects from treatment.

Ambitions to study paediatric nursing have been stalled after her first year at university because of the side-effects of the cancer treatment.

“My balance has been affected and I had to abandon my nursing degree course,” she said.

“I am still keen to aim for a degree and achieve my potential in life and promote earlier diagnosis of cancers in young people.”

Scotland is currently experiencing an acute shortage of GPs because the service has not received enough funding and heavy workload burdens have forced some doctors to leave for careers elsewhere.

The British Medical Association Scotland said GPs’ share of the health service budget has fallen every year against inflation since 2008 and they cannot afford to hire more staff to cope with increasing demand.

The British Medical Journal Best Practice guide advises that neuroblastomas are rare, but the most common non-brain solid tumour in children.

The majority of patients are diagnosed before the age of five.

Diagnosis can usually be confirmed by urine tests and imaging scans.

The Royal College of GPs said it does not comment on individual cases.