‘My cancer is incurable, but I’m determined to be a mum’
Geeta Patel was looking forward to her future with her husband. But at just 25 years old, she had a shock diagnosis
At the age of 22, I was happy being single and enjoying my freedom. But I also wanted to find Mr Right and start a family one day. Then while in the gym one afternoon, I noticed Ankush. I thought he was gorgeous. I tried to catch his eye, but he was always too focused on his workout to notice me. After a few weeks of no luck, I found him on Facebook and added him as a friend. Thankfully, he didn’t think I was weird and asked me out for dinner straightaway! Like me, Ankush’s family are from India, and we realised we had so much in common.
Right away, we knew that we had something very special and quickly fell in love. Our families got on brilliantly, and a year later, Ankush, who works as a dentist, proposed to me while on a trip to Iceland. “Yes!” I said, throwing my arms around him.
We wanted to plan a huge Indian wedding, but just a few months later, in December 2018, my family was struck by tragedy when my dad Ray was diagnosed with a brain tumour. It was terminal, and his dying wish was to see me get married. So, Ankush and I quickly arranged a small wedding at our local registry office in Stockton-on-tees for January 2019. Sadly, Dad was too ill to attend, but he was able to watch the ceremony on Facetime from hospital. It was a lovely, but bittersweet day, and when Dad died the following June, I was absolutely devastated. “At least he got to see me marry Ankush,” I thought, and we intended to have our big Indian wedding one day.
By now, we’d bought our dream home together. Ankush wanted children as much as I did, but we were still very young and in no rush. If it happened, it happened. But by last March, I’d still not conceived, so my doctor referred us for fertility tests. A few weeks later, I got my results back and they were all clear. I could conceive naturally.
Then, one evening that August, I was having a bath when I felt something on the back of my right leg. When I looked down, I realised it was a lump about the size of a golf ball. I had no idea how long it had been there. The lump was solid and seemed to be deep inside my hamstring muscle. It didn’t hurt, but I grabbed my phone to Google it anyway. The words “sarcoma” and “cancer” immediately came up, so in a panic, I clicked off the internet. “It can’t be cancer, I’m too young,” I told myself. When I came out of the bathroom, I showed Ankush the lump and he agreed it was probably nothing, but I should get it checked out.
‘We quickly fell in love’
The next day, I had a phone appointment with my GP, who referred me for an ultrasound scan the following week. I was told they’d contact me in seven days, but when I didn’t hear anything after ten, I assumed no news meant good news and that everything was fine. But the next day, the GP called, asking me to come in that afternoon and to bring someone with me. A feeling of dread rose in the pit of my stomach, and when I called Ankush to tell him, he was worried, too. He immediately dropped everything at work and came with me to the GP surgery.
As we walked through the door of the consultation room, I was already crying. “It’s not cancer, is it?’ I sobbed. “Well, we can’t rule it out,” the GP replied. Over the next two weeks, I had an X-ray, an MRI scan and a biopsy. Waiting a week for the results was absolute torture and I had to take sick leave from my estate agent job because I just couldn’t focus. I was referred to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, and when Ankush and I went for the results, we clung to each other’s hands as my consultant delivered the news. “The biopsy has confirmed it’s cancer,” he said. Ankush and I immediately burst into tears. The consultant explained it was a rare form of cancer – alveolar soft part sarcoma – and that I needed an operation to remove the tumour, followed by 30 sessions of radiotherapy. “You’ll also need a CT scan to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread anywhere else,” the consultant added. Then he asked how was I feeling. “Absolutely fine,” I replied. But on the way home with Ankush, I remembered I’d had a slight cough for the last year. It was so tiny, it never even bothered me – only now, I wondered if it meant something more sinister. “Do you think the cancer could be in my lungs?” I asked Ankush. “Don’t be silly, you’re very healthy,” he replied.
To save the one hour drive to Newcastle, we decided to get the results from the CT scan over the phone. With Ankush sitting beside me, I put on loud speaker to hear the clinical nurse. “Unfortunately, there are several cancerous tumours in the lungs,” she said.
She then explained there were too many tumours to operate and that I would also need chemotherapy. I couldn’t believe it. I was just 25 years old. How was this happening to me? After the phone call, Ankush and I held hands and prayed together.
Four weeks later, in October 2020, I had the operation to remove the lump on my leg, and surgeons had to take away most of my hamstring muscle. Thankfully, the operation was a success and I was up walking again within eight days. To give myself the best chance of recovery, I took time off work, and before my radiotherapy started in November, I had my eggs taken and fertilised with Ankush’s sperm. The embryos were then frozen for us to use to start a family once I’d recovered.
After my 30 radiotherapy sessions ended in January this year, I had my first round of
‘I would rather stay positive’
immunotherapy, which unlike chemo, acts directly on cancerous tumours and doesn’t make my hair fall out. The treatment is every 21 days and I’ve just finished my third round. I always feel sick and tired afterwards, but a few days later, I feel better and can go for nice walks with Ankush.
Unfortunately, my journey with cancer is far from over. Three months ago, I was told the heartbreaking news that my cancer is incurable, meaning I will be on immunotherapy for life. If the tumours shrink, there may be a possibility for surgery, which is what I am hoping for, so that I can still have my beautiful children one day. I also want to have my big Indian wedding in Mexico with Ankush, 30, once the travel restrictions are lifted.
I haven’t asked the doctors how long I have left. I’d rather stay positive and determined to have a wonderful future with my husband and make my dream come true of becoming a mum.