'ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING'
Woman, 68, given just months to live after doctors missed ‘obvious’ tumour on scan and dismissed cancer symptoms
Anne Shaw, 68, had battled ovarian cancer before and recognised some of the telltale signs
A WOMAN has been given just months to live after doctors missed a tumour clearly visible on a scan and dismissed her cancer worries.
Anne Shaw, 68, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer that's now terminal after doctors failed to spot it between June 2019 and September 2021, despite being at higher risk of the disease.
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Anne, from Shadwell, was treated for breast cancer in 2006, having the lump and lymph nodes removed followed by chemotherapy.
She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly afterwards, undergoing surgery to remove her ovaries.
Despite being given the all-clear at the time, Anne's previous brushes with cancer made her more likely to suffer from it again.
She had routine scans done at the St James's University Hospital in Leeds in summer 2019.
Despite a tumour being clearly visible on the scans, doctors failed to flag Anne's cancer.
Anne said: "I had been really tired and worried the cancer had come back but was told I was fine.
"I found out two years later that the cancer was obvious on the second scan.
"If they’d have looked at my medical records, they must have known what they should have been looking for."
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Doctors again dismissed her worries when she returned to hospital in February 2020, after noticing worrying symptoms she suspected were caused by ovarian cancer.
Anne complained of worsening pain, like the pain she'd experienced with ovarian cancer years ago.
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But after an examination, she was assured it had not returned.
She recalled: "The registrar I saw had clearly not read my medical records.
"He felt my stomach area briefly and told me I was fine, despite what I was telling him."
By September 2021, Anne's condition had worsened and she was struggling badly with pain and fatigue.
She went to her GP, who fast-tracked her to the oncology team at St James' Hospital.
She was diagnosed with cancer that autumn, but by that time it had spread over large parts of her bowel.
Anne told MailOnline that her cancer consultant had shared with her under "duty of candour" that the tumour on her ovaries had actually been visible on the scan she'd had in 2019.
"He said if they had acted at the time, it could probably have been dealt with easily by chemotherapy and monitoring," she said.
"I had to undergo major surgery and have a colostomy, which wouldn’t have been needed had it been picked up sooner."
Missed opportunities
The 68-year-old now lives with a stoma, limiting her activities and what she can eat.
And she's been told by doctors that she only has a few more months to live.
Anne said: "I feel like I’m on Death Row. I don’t have a quality of life anymore, I don’t have pride in my appearance.
"This has ruined what I’ve got left of my life, it’s absolutely devastating.
"Because no-one realised for more than two years that the cancer had come back, I have not got long left.
"The fact I’m so tired all the time and I have a stoma means that I can’t do many of the things I’d have wanted to.
"I try to get on with things as best I can, and not think ‘What if’ all the time, but it’s very hard.
"I know mistakes happen, but someone looked at my scan and didn’t spot cancer, despite the fact I’ve had cancer before.
"I was flagging up my symptoms but they still didn’t realise.
"My life has been turned upside down, everything has changed, all because of these two missed opportunities to find out that my cancer has returned."
Hope for others
Anne now wants it to be mandatory for two radiologists to analyse a scan for returning cancer.
"I would like to see a change so that two radiologists have to look at scans like mine together, so they can discuss and assess what they both see," she explained.
"For me, it’s too late. But this could help to save someone else’s life, or at least give them the time or quality of life that I don’t have."
Anne would also like to meet with a representative from the NHS Trust to discuss what happened to her. So far, this has been declined.
She is now working to secure a settlement from St James' Hospital.
The clinical negligence specialist lawyer leading her case, John Lowther, said: "This is an absolutely shocking case of two opportunities to identify Anne’s cancer being missed – because of the failures to realise it had returned, she now has a much poorer quality of life and is understandably very distressed about living with a stoma.
"The past few years have been hugely difficult for Anne and Louis, and what should have been a happy retirement is now a living nightmare for them both."
He called on St James’s University Hospital to ensure that action was taken and that mistakes in Anne's care weren't repeated.
What are the signs of ovarian cancer?
Ovarian cancers affects the ovaries, the organs that store the eggs needed to make babies.
It mostly affects women over the age of 50 and can sometimes run in families, according to the NHS.
Symptoms of the cancer can be vague, particularly in its early stages, Cancer Research UK noted.
It advised you speak to a GP if you have the following symptoms:
- feeling full quickly
- loss of appetite
- pain in your abdomen or lower part of your abdomen that doesn't go away
- bloating or an increase in the size of your abdomen
- needing to wee more often
- tiredness that is unexplained
- weight loss that is unexplained
- changes in your bowel habit or symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, especially if this starts after the age of 50
The NHS added that bleeding from the vagina after the menopause could be another possible symptom of ovarian cancer.
John added: "Anne’s suggestion of a change in policy, scans looking to identify possible signs of recurrent cancer where that is actively suspected, are checked by two radiologists, including one who specialises in diagnosis of cancer, is a very logical one.
"We would support adoption of this, not just in this particular hospital but across the NHS, including where services are outsourced."
Dr Magnus Harrison, Chief Medical Officer for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We are deeply sorry for the delay in diagnosing Anne’s cancer and the impact this had on Anne’s health.
"As soon as we were aware of the error, we met with Anne and explained we would investigate the reporting discrepancies.
"This is so that we can understand why and how it happened and what we can learn and improve.
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"We have shared the findings from this investigation with Anne and we have shared the learning with our radiologists and radiographers.
"We apologise that Anne’s requests to meet have not been followed up and we will be contacting Anne as soon as possible to arrange a convenient time to meet."
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