I am writing a series of blog articles to tell the story of my late wife, Clare, who was misdiagnosed with breast cancer and tragically passed away in 2021.
The End
Two and a half years ago, my wife Clare, passed away suddenly from breast cancer. She left behind me and our two sons who were aged 11 and 15 at the time.
I’d like to tell you our story of how this awful event happened and whilst I go into a lot of detail, I feel its important for you understand how this terrible event occurred without anyone, apparently, being able to stop it.
I’ll begin by giving an overview (which is a slightly easier read) of how this event occurred followed by further sections that will go into all the details.
Our Story Begins
Around three years ago, Clare found a lump on her breast and booked herself into the breast clinic to get herself checked out. After her initial consultation, they found a 7cm lump on her left breast so they set up further appointments to look into it.
Several months passed, after a few more appointments, she had a biopsy, she also had an MRI and various other scans and examinations. They concluded that it wasn’t cancer, “great”. I can’t remember the term now but it was some lump that they can remove at a future time.
She was told, “Carry on with your life”, “brilliant”.
Clare and I continued with life as normal, looking forward to a summer holiday without the worry of the lump that she had found.
Six months later, Clare and I were out house hunting, looking for our next house in Derbyshire. And, around this time she started getting aches and pains in her back and shoulder.
Now obviously, if she had been getting aches and pains in her breasts, then she would probably have worried more. But she assumed that as she was now sleeping in a different position due to the lump, that she may have hurt a muscle in her shoulder which was causing the discomfort
During those six months the lump in her breast had gotten bigger, but still the doctor said “No, its fine”.
Along with the aches and pains, she was also having difficulty breathing. I was in bed one night and she got up to go to the toilet. Minutes later, she came back up the stairs and was out of breath.
I said to her “There is something not right with you”.
We both thought that she had better phone the hospital. It was about 2 in the morning. After a brief discussion, the hospital told her to take some Paracetamol and go to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, the hospital called back. Obviously they had gone into her file by now and they had noticed the history of the lump.
They told her that she had to go to A&E immediately!
After Clare had packed her overnight bag, she went to A&E. At first, she wasn’t even going to take a bag with her. She had absolutely no idea what fate would be waiting for her very soon.
The following morning in A&E, they examined her. The oncologist also came down.
I was at home looking after our boys and I got a call to go into the hospital straight away. I could tell something serious was happening but they wouldn’t give me any further information on the phone.
When I arrived, Clare was crying her eyes out on the bed. I was like “What’s up?”
She told me that whilst they still need to carry out some tests, that the oncologist had told her he was 99% sure that she has cancer. I spoke to the oncologist later and asked him why they hadn’t picked up the cancer when she had her first biopsy six months earlier. He said he didn’t know.
A few days later, Clare was feeling unwell in hospital and she was taken to intensive care. Several hours later, she died.
From Discovery to Farewell
Around three years ago, Clare found a lump on her breast. She booked an appointment at the breast clinic to get it looked at.
A couple of months later, they found a 7 cm mass in her left breast, she then underwent a biopsy and a histological examination. The results concluded that she had a vascular lesion (a Masson haemangioma). The results were then discussed in the MDT meeting and it was recommended to leave it alone for a few months with the possibility of having it surgically removed in the future. A further ultrasound scan was arranged for a couple of months time.
A month later during an appointment at the breast clinic, they noticed that the mass in her breast had now increased in size to 97mm x 61mm.
A couple of weeks later, Clare underwent an MRI at our local hospital. Before she received the results of the scan she experienced excruciating pain in her left breast and went to A&E. After they examined her they found arterial bleeding in her breast. A Doctor fed a wire into her breast to block off the bleeding. She was then transferred to another hospital.
They kept Clare at the hospital for a little under two weeks while they waited for the swelling in her breast to go down.
Once she was discharged from hospital, the discharge notes said that she now has an extensive haematoma in her breast that has now increased in size to 129mm x 125mm. They also found a 3.5mm lump in her lung and two lesions in her liver, one 13.5mm long, the other, 10mm.
A couple of months and a couple of appointments later, Clare’s Doctor and several specialists from the lung and liver teams decided that the node in her lung needed no further action and that there could be a cyst in her liver. The liver specialists said they will review the cyst in the future and decide if any other action is required.
Three months passed, a couple of other appointments, and Clare was experiencing a prolonged cough. She also had back ache, shoulder ache and had difficulty breathing so she once again checked herself into A&E.
After an examination by an oncologist, Clare was told that he is sure that she has cancer in several parts of her body. A further biopsy was booked for three days time.
Three days after the biopsy, Clare passed away. There was not enough time for any treatment and none of us got a chance to say goodbye.
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Interested in the next part of the story? Read Part 2 Here
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