KILLED BY CANCER AT 31 AFTER HER CHEMO WAS ‘PAUSED’... DUE TO COVID

Abandoned by the Covid-obsessed NHS, they are the cancer sufferers now fighting for their lives... or in Kelly’s case, mourned by her family. So in the battle against the virus, who is fighting for THEM?

AGED just 31 and with a six-yearold son she doted upon, Kelly Smith had everything to live for.

But the ‘ vivacious’ beautician, who was suffering from bowel cancer, was robbed of her future when the pandemic hit.

Doctors told her in March that her chemotherapy was being paused for three months. Her cancer spread and she died on June 13.

Miss Smith is just one of thousands of cancer patients abandoned by the NHS when the coronavirus crisis hit.

Hospitals desperate to clear beds for Covid patients cancelled virtually all procedures, including vital tests and operations, when the country shut down on March 23.

Many had their diagnosis delayed while others, especially those with secondary cancers, such as Miss Smith, who were relying on treatments, drug trials or surgery to buy them time, missed out on procedures, leaving them facing curtailed life-spans.

The backlog is so long that 3 million are now waiting for screening, says Cancer Research UK. Charities estimate up to 35,000 extra deaths next year may be caused by cancer as a result of the pandemic.

As the UK teeters on the brink of a second wave, doctors, campaigners and MPs are demanding the Government prevents a similar shut down of cancer care. If they don’t, the NHS will be left with a cancer timebomb, with tens of thousands dying in the months and years to come, they say.

Professor Karol Sikora, a consultant oncologist at the University of Buckingham,

‘I feel like I’m being murdered’

warned: ‘Cancer is not a disease where you can put people on the shelf for three months. It’s not like hip replacements or cataract surgery where patients on the waiting list face immense discomfort – if cancer isn’t diagnosed and treated promptly, it can spread, and more people will die.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘There will be tragic consequences if ministers do not restore cancer services and guarantee patients the treatment they need.’

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘This obsession with one issue – Covid – is disastrous. A second lockdown would be an unmitigated disaster in health terms: fewer cancer patients will get treatment, and there will be more deaths.’

Professor Pat Price, a consultant oncologist and founder of the Catch Up With Cancer Campaign, told the Mail: ‘The stark reality is that if we don’t get through this backlog, patients won’t get the treatment they need and will die. Cancer patients are as important as Covid patients.’

Miss Smith, from Macclesfield, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April 2017. She underwent an operation to remove part of her colon but the cancer had spread to her liver.

Over the next three years Miss Smith, mother to six-year-old Finn, underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy but each time the cancer returned. In December she was told it had spread to her lungs, liver, intestines and brain. She was midway through another round of chemotherapy, which she believed was buying her time, when the pandemic hit.

Shortly before her death, Miss Smith said: ‘I’m angry at Covid and that I got put on this break because I don’t think I should have.

‘I’m terrified – absolutely terrified. I don’t want to die. I feel like I’ve got so much more to do.’

Craig Russell, 51, Miss Smith’s stepfather, told the Mail that her life had been ‘ traded’ for those of Covid patients. ‘Kelly’s loss has been devastating to our family. So many people have suffered the same as we have, losing loved ones. We will never really get over the fact we lost Kelly.’

Mr Russell and his wife, Mandy, Miss Smith’s mother, have set up a petition, which has gathered more than 316,000 signatures, urging the Government to end cancer treatment delays in the pandemic. Last week the couple met Health Secretary Matt Hancock to express their concerns.

Mr Russell said: ‘Cancer is a far bigger threat than Covid ever could be. Every day 500 people die from cancer and those numbers are starting to increase because there is no treatment. Sadly, it is too late for Kelly, but there is still time to save others.’

Maxine Smith, 32, a hairdresser and a mother of two, is another cancer sufferer who feels her life may be cut short because of the virus.

She said: ‘Cancer patients like me were just left, like sitting ducks. The cancer has been eating away at my body. I feel like I’m being murdered, plain and simple.’

Jennifer Eldridge, 40, had a delayed diagnosis because of Covid, and was only diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in August – four months after her symptoms began.

The married mother of two has been given just two years to live. She said: ‘It’s utterly crushing to think if this hadn’t happened during a pandemic, things could be so different.’

Responding to the heartbreaking accounts, Professor Sikora said: ‘This really illustrates how the virus has created so much suffering indirectly. The Government mustn’t make the mistake of shutting everything down again. That would be the wrong decision.’