Lois Walker is a 38-year-old woman from South Yorkshire who has just given birth to a baby boy, Ray. And before she could cherish her first moment with her baby, she was struck with the horrific news that she had stage 4 ovarian cancer, which had spread all around her body. – according to The Daily Mail.
Doctors found the tumor on her ovaries, liver, and bowels when they were performing a C-section on her.
Lois has accused Dove Valley Practice and Barnsley Hospital of ‘negligence’ and ‘irresponsibility.’
She claimed that they could have caught it earlier if only they had listened to her. She had complained of stomach pain for more than a year, but none of her complaints were taken seriously.
“They just dismissed my symptoms as anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, and part of ‘getting old,’ labeled me like a hypochondriac, and told me to avoid dairy.” She said
“It’s been absolutely diabolical. They call themselves health professionals, and they’re supposed to be giving us care, but that is negligence.”
“If the NHS does not acknowledge that things need to change, then I feel sorry for everybody and anybody.” She added.
Lois became pregnant with Ryan in December 2020, and 14 weeks later after the gender reveal, her pains worsened.
She said she had been struck with skin cancer in the past and explicitly mentioned to her doctors that she could be suffering from cancer symptoms. But they told her that it’s not the case and she may have Irritable Bowel Syndrome – IBS instead.
She said her symptoms worsened with time, and she was in a lot of pain, but the doctors just offered her drugs for hypochondria.
“I was going to the doctors, but I couldn’t tell them anything new because it was the same symptoms always, so they treated me with antacids.
“At one point, I was told that it could be health anxiety, so they put me on citalopram. I already suffered from skin cancer, so I said to my doctor, “You don’t think I could have cancer?”’
‘But he said, “Oh no, it’s just you getting old, and bodies don’t work as well.”‘
Lois told the BBC that her pregnancy was complicated, and she went through excruciating pain in the last few months of it.
‘I could not deal with this pain, and the further the pregnancy went on, the more excruciating it became. It got to the point where I couldn’t walk or eat.
She said the pain got so bad that she couldn’t bear it anymore. So, she told the doctors that she was on the verge of hurting herself. They admitted her to the hospital and gave her ‘morphine’ to relieve the pain, but they didn’t make any effort to find out the cause of the pain.
“Then the final straw was when they had to get the mental health team involved because I said that it had reached the point where I would have to end both our lives, and I feel ashamed to say that.”
Then the doctors finally realized that something was wrong and ran some tests. They found a mass behind her womb. So, they decided to deliver the baby the very next day.
“When they opened me up, the doctor said, ‘I thought you said you didn’t have any abdominal surgery?’ and I said I hadn’t.
“That’s when I knew something had been found, as they called a few doctors in.”
“They basically said that my abdomen was so diseased that they needed to send off some biopsies, and I’d have to wait. But I knew anyway. She continued.
‘The doctor actually grabbed my hand, cried, and said he had let me down.”
The doctors started her chemotherapy right away, but it was too late. Lois stated that her cancer had spread and it’s terminal. A fundraiser started to help her and her family, it has already crossed its 100% goal but you can still help out by going here.
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