The family of a mum due to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumour between her lungs are 'devastated' after it was cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak pressures.
Diane Paterson, 54, was scheduled to undergo the operation for her rare thymoma cancer, which affects the gland located in the area between the two lungs and the sternum, at London's Guy's Hospital today.
However she was shocked to receive a call from the hospital last week, informing her it has been cancelled - and a week later she has no news on when the surgery will go ahead.
Husband Ali Paterson claims when he called back hoping they would schedule in a new date, a staff member told him it had been cancelled because the recovery ward was overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
The East Sussex family has now been waiting a week, with no word on a new surgery date, and the remaining clump of cells on the mum-of-two's lung growing every day.
Last night the NHS announced a new 'cancer hub' was being launched to handle London's patients from a central team, including Guy's Hospital.
But the Patersons have received no word since the op was cancelled, and worry their case signals a tipping point for coronavirus pressures on the NHS.
The couple have two children, aged 17 and 20, and the situation is putting immense pressure on their family amid the nationwide lockdown.
Mrs Paterson has been battling cancer for two years, and has had bouts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Her family had hoped this surgery would be the final one to would put her on the home straight to recovery.
Mr Paterson fears his wife's condition has grown worse every day since they received the worrying news on Friday night, March 20 before the UK even entered lockdown.
She is in isolation at their home, where Mr Paterson added: “We’ve had to comfort her quite a bit, to be honest, but it’s hard to have to stay away from someone.”
Her condition is only made worse by her anxiety over the cancelled op and fears the cancer's location near her lungs could make her particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.
Mr Paterson claimed he rang back after the first phone call last week and spoke to a Guy's Hospital staff member who told him today's surgery had been cancelled .
“What she said to me is when you have the operation you have to go in the recovery room - and the recovery room at the moment is being used for coronavirus patients.”
Despite repeated attempts by the family and the Mirror Online over the past week to ask the hospital when the surgery will be rescheduled, there has been no word.
They fear she is in peril, as the tumour grows every day, Mr Paterson said.
“It’s a desperate situation but we were at least expecting someone to phone up and explain to use what’s happening.”
“My wife was upset before then. She’s not feeling so well, she’s stressed about this.
It’s been a stress from the start, to be honest. Cancer is devastating enough, and now that phonecall. We’ve had two years of stress, put it that way.”
Guy's hospital treated the UK's first coronavirus cases, as it contains one of the country's leading infectious diseases specialist wards.
Now the outbreak has snowballed into a pandemic, with the UK death toll topping 700 this week and mounting cases putting more pressure on hospitals nationwide.
The Paterson family are eager to emphasise that they support the NHS and are concerned for "stretched" Guy's Hospital and its staff.
However they had seen the official statement a fortnight ago that only routine surgeries would be postponed amid the outbreak.
They now worry their case means NHS has stretched beyond that point.
They listened to last night's daily Downing Street press conference, in which NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens said cancer specialists were being asked to decide whether it more risky to embark on treatment leaving patients vulnerable to coronavirus infection.
He added that the NHS had reached an agreement with private hospitals over cancer care to relieve busy public hospitals treating coronavirus patients
The Patersons said they had not received any clarity on their situation, but hoped someone would contact them soon to say Mrs Paterson could receive her desperately-needed surgery elsewhere.
Mr Paterson said he had felt that Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has himself now been diagnosed with Covid-19, was doing a good job of handling the crisis.
He hoped that silence from the hospital meant the NHS was coming up with a plan, such as the deal leaders struck with private hospitals to co-opt beds.
New NHS Nightingale makeshift field hospitals are being built around the UK, including one at London's ExCel Centre.
NHS England last night announced its new cancer hub, which will see London's cancer patients' cases handled by the Royal Marsden in collaboration with University College London Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The NHS said the hub will ensure hospitals continue to deliver as much cancer treatment as possible across the capital, with an initial focus on surgeries which require critical care beds.
Dr Vin Diwakar, medical director for the NHS in London, said in a statement: “Every NHS hospital is rightly carrying out as much cancer treatment as possible, while clearly needing to balance this against the risk to individuals posed by coronavirus.
“The coronavirus pandemic is the biggest health threat this country has faced in a century and the biggest challenge our health service has ever faced, which is exactly why the NHS is already increasing treatment capacity across all hospitals, while getting on with other options too, including new facilities and a landmark deal with private hospitals.”
But on what should have been the day of the surgery today, Mr Paterson said the family had received no communication about the new hub, or when his wife would be getting the op.
While the family-of-four anxiously awaits news, the dad had a plea for "selfish" Brits flouting lockdown guidelines.
"People think it happens to other people. They saw it happening to Italy, they saw it in other countries and didn’t really believe 'this is something that happens to us',” he said.
“I think a lot of people, and particularly the young people who think they are not going to be affected by it, need to consider people like my wife."
