Family of tragic Kelly call for urgent action on cancer treatment
THE parents of a woman who died of bowel cancer have started a petition demanding greater efforts with treatment during Covid - and it’s been signed by almost 190,000 people.
Kelly Smith, 31, from Macclesfield, passed away after her chemotherapy was delayed for 12 weeks at the start of lockdown.
As reported in the Express earlier this month she had believed the treatment was working and her story was told in a BBC Panorama programme to highlight the issue.
Now her mum and dad, Mandy and Craig Russell, have started a petition to the Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock and it has prompted a huge response.
It calls for ‘urgent action’ to divert extra resources to all available cancer treatments so they can continue their lifesaving work uninterrupted.
Mandy and Craig say in the petition: “The government and senior NHS leaders need to react to this national tragedy in cancer services.
”They need to act now. Sadly it is too late for Kelly, but there’s still time to save others.
“We need an emergency response across all available cancer treatments with extra resources and with the same amount of energy and focus as was deployed against the virus itself. In particular, treatments like radiotherapy need to be boosted and set free from the bureaucracy that is holding it back.”
Mandy and Craig say that experts have warned as many as 35,000 patients could die because of the impact of Covid on cancer services.
Mum-of-one Kelly, who lived on New Hall Street, was diagnosed in December 2016 after three months of symptoms including fatigue, nausea, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and bloating.
She told the Panorama programme Britain’s Cancer Crisis her treatment had been having positive results.
Kelly said: “I’m angry, yes, that I got put on this break because I don’t think I should have.
”I don’t want to die. I feel like I’ve so much more to do.”
During her illness, Kelly was determined to raise awareness of bowel cancer in the under 50s and joined Bowel Cancer UK’s Never Too Young campaign.
She also made appearances to talk about the issue and shared her experiences as @kickasskell on Instagram.
Her family described her as inspirational.
They said: “Her loss has been devastating to our family. Her life expectancy was drastically cut short after her chemotherapy stopped as a direct result of Covid.
“Across the UK, people have had their cancer treatments impacted - so we’ve started this petition calling for the government to take urgent action, before it’s too late.”
Her family has launched an appeal to raise money for Cancer Research UK in Kelly’s name. More than £16,000 has already been raised.
To sign the petition visit www.change.org and search ‘Stop unnecessary cancer deaths caused by the COVID disruptions and save thousands of lives’.