Cancer mum dies after lockdown treatment delay
TRAGIC WOMAN FORCED TO TAKE SIX-WEEK BREAK FROM TREATMENT
A YOUNG mother died of cancer after chemotherapy, which she believed had been working, was delayed at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown.
Kelly Smith, aged 31, died from bowel cancer on June 13 after threeand-a-half years of living with the disease.
The mother-of-one, whose funeral took place last week, told how she felt angry after her treatment, which she says was having positive results, was paused for 12 weeks at the start of the lockdown.
The case of Kelly will be featured in a BBC Panorama programme tonight.
She tells her friend, and reporter, Deborah James that during the time of the delay she believes her cancer had progressed too far.
Asked by Deborah, who has stage four bowel cancer herself, if she would be in such a position if Covid had never happened Kelly says: “I don’t think I would be in such a position.”
She adds: “I’m angry, yes, that I got put on this break, because I don’t think I should have. I’m angry at Covid because it’s me that had this six-week break.”
Asked by a medical expert if she is worried about the future and worried about dying, she says: “Terrified. Absolutely terrified. I don’t want to die. I feel like I’ve so much more to do.”
Kelly was mum to her six-year-old son, Finn and the programme shows footage from her funeral in which she had a pink, sparkly coffin.
While being treated Kelly, from Macclesfield, shared her experiences of bowel cancer as @kickasskell on Instagram. She also appeared on TV and radio to raise awareness that cancer can strike in people of all ages.
Urgent referrals for cancer care have dropped and treatments have been delayed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There is also a major backlog for screenings resulting in delayed diagnoses, the programme reveals.
Mark Lawler, Professor of Digital Health at Queen’s University Belfast and Scientific Lead of DATA-CAN, the UK’s health data research hub for cancer, said: “Initial data that we got was very worrying to us. Anecdotally, people have been telling us there were problems, but I think the critical thing was being able to actually have routine data from hospital trusts. We felt that, worst case scenario, there would be 35,000 excess cancer deaths in the United Kingdom (in the next year).
Peter Johnson, National Clinical Director for Cancer NHS England, has
I’m angry at Covid because it’s me that had this six-week break. I don’t want to die Kelly Smith
the job of drawing up guidelines on cancer treatment during Covid-19. Asked if there would be excess deaths caused by Covid-19, he says: “I honestly don’t know. It’s impossible to say. We’re working as fast as we can to put services back together again, to restore the capacity and indeed to build more, so that we can deal with the people that have not been diagnosed during the time when services have been running below 100 per cent. I am hoping that we will get back to where we need to be by the end of the year.”
Professor Pat Rice, a clinical oncologist, says that in some hospitals radiotherapy machines were ‘lying idle which could have saved lives.’
Kelly’s father, Craig, said his daughter had fought an ‘inspirational’ three-year battle against cancer. He added: “Kelly’s ethos from the moment she was diagnosed was to fight both the cancer and also to raise awareness that it is not only older people who get cancer.”
● Kelly’s family has now launched an appeal at: www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/Kickasskel to raise money for Cancer Research UK in her name. More than £16,000 has already been raised.