A mum who was struggling to eat and swallow was told she had acid reflux three times when she actually had terminal cancer.
Jackie Johnson, 50, repeatedly tried to see a doctor when she began having difficulty eating towards the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
She was told three times by medics during lockdown that she had acid reflux and was plied with antacids when she was actually battling terminal cancer.
Her partner Colin Stewart, 49, said: “Jackie asked the GP if she could have cancer but he said no and told her she had a ‘classic case of acid reflux. But no one had ever examined her.”
The mum, from Kirkcaldy in Scotland, only discovered how serious her condition by reading notes a nurse left discarded on her bed when she was eventually taken to hospital.
She was diagnosed with stage four cancer of the oesophagus and told by medics there is no hope for her with only palliative chemotherapy treatment on offer.
Colin added: “Jackie called over a doctor and he was embarrassed she had found out like that. He confirmed what she had read and then, Jackie said, ran away.”
When Jackie first developed eating problems in March, she repeatedly tried to see a doctor.
But despite Scottish Government assurances the NHS was open, she found all doors were closed to her at her local GP surgeries.
During her first appointment with the practice nurse, she was told she had acid reflux without any examination and diagnosed antacids.
Two weeks later she called the surgery again and was given a telephone appointment with a doctor but he just doubled her original medication.
Jackie was not convinced the diagnosis was correct and called back two weeks later only to be given another telephone appointment and more medication despite nobody ever examining her throat.
In desperation and feeling her condition was worsening, Jackie called the surgery a fourth time and asked to be referred for an endoscopy.
She feared she may have cancer but her GP said she had all the "classic signs" of acid reflux before "reluctantly" referring her to the endoscopy clinic with an eight-week wait.
Colin said while Jackie waited, she was in so much pain she was no longer able to sit down and have dinner with him and her sons Lewis 26, and Neil, 13. Instead she was restricted to small drinks of water and some soft foods.
On July 9, her appointment confirmed she had a growth and medics diagnosed her with cancer six days later.
MSP and health spokesperson Monica Lennon said: “Cancer doesn’t wait and that’s why GP consultations and early diagnosis are so vital.
"We face a tsunami of cancer deaths unless the Scottish Government gets our NHS working again.”
A panel of doctors was arranged to consider Jackie's treatment but she was taken into Victoria Hospital before they met as she continued to grow weaker.
Colin said: “She was severely malnourished and dehydrated. She had been eating but more was coming back up than going down.”
Jackie discovered the severity of her devastating condition when a nurse left her notes on the bed after her pre-op.
Colin said: “Jackie picked them up and read them. The notes said T4N1MO and underneath was written ‘patient unaware’.
“Jackie googled it to see what it meant and was shocked to learn the tumour was at stage four and had metastasised into the lymph node. But there had never been a biopsy taken of the lymph nodes."
It was another two days before doctors met her properly to discuss her case.
Colin added: “They told her it was terminal and she was going to have palliative treatment. They said it was unusual for this cancer to affect someone of her age as it normally affected much older people.
“But in order for her to be able to swallow the chemotherapy medication, they would have to put in a stent to open up her oesophagus.
"They told us it would be permanent and even if the chemotherapy shrunk the tumour they would not be able to operate because of the stent.
“We asked them to hold off doing it because we wanted a second opinion. But when they got the second opinion they said it was the same as their own.”
The couple trawled the internet to find an expert in Jackie's cancer and found a consultant at Guy's and St Thomas Hospital in London who may be able to provide curative treatment.
But Jackie will need to have a PET scan before they can decide whether treatment is possible.
The brave mum will receive the scan in the next few days and could be treated in Scotland or forced to pay privately in London.
Colin said: “All Jacqueline has been offered is palliative care but we know there are other options and while we are waiting for a scan she is not getting any treatment at all.”
