It may have been 25 years since Joan’s husband, Roy, was diagnosed with lung cancer but the devastation of the loss is still palpable, especially as there were clearly opportunities for Roy to be diagnosed earlier.
“There is no plausible reason why Roy’s cancer was not diagnosed earlier,” recalls Joan.
“Roy went into hospital for a knee replacement and, as part of the routine assessment, he had a chest x-ray. We were told everything was ok and so the operation went ahead.
“But Roy wasn’t the same since. He struggled to recover from the operation. We were both trained nurses so couldn’t understand why it was taking him to so long to get back to full health.
Symptoms start
“About six months after his operation, Roy developed an irritating cough. Shortly after this, he mentioned he had discomfort in his shoulder, radiating down to his chest.
“He went to his GP who immediately sent him for another x-ray. Less than 24hrs later, the GP was at our house looking absolutely shell shocked and told Roy he had lung cancer with possible metastases.
“It soon transpired that the routine chest x-ray Roy had before his knee surgery showed a cancerous tumour. It was either missed or ignored.
Heartbroken
“I cannot describe the devastation we both felt. We just sat holding onto one another. Many years may have passed, but the tears are still pouring down my face as I write this.
We have three children, one girl and two boys. None of them have fully recovered because of the neglect their father suffered from diagnosis to his passing.
“I remember when we had the first appointment with the chest consultant, he showed us the x-ray. We could clearly see the tumour to which the consultant to sarcastically say ‘how clever we were’ despite our clear distress.
“Roy had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but he deteriorated and was in a lot of pain – and not only because of the cancer. During his third round of chemo, the cannula was not sited correctly. Roy suffered severe burns down to his tendons in his right hand. He spent weeks in the burns unit, but it was beyond healing.
“It was the most distressing and devastating time of our lives. I can only hope that things have improved significantly over the last 25 years and no-one else has to go through the pain my children and I went through.”
Joan shares their experience as part of our Let Go of the Labels campaign for lung cancer awareness month.