Cancer patient crisis: “The effect of this pandemic will last for years”
Experts have warned that there could be thousands of deaths from cancer due to a backlog in treatment and a lack of diagnoses during the pandemic. Closer speaks to those most affected VIRUS BLOW Cancer patients 'told to delay treatment' due to coronaviru
Earlier this year, Sarah Valentine was filled with optimism. She’d been accepted on a clinical trial to treat her breast cancer and had just had her first session. She had every reason to believe it would buy her precious time with her four children.
Tragically, her treatment was halted when lockdown started in March and Sarah, 40 – whose condition is terminal – is still facing months of uncertainty and fear.
DEVASTATED
Sarah, who lives in Kent with her children Jessie, 19, Poppy, nine, Teddy, seven, and Billy, four, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2016, and it spread to her bones and liver.
She says, “Even with a terminal diagnosis, I had reason to hope that I’d be around for longer with treatment. But now I have to accept that, without the trial, my outlook isn’t as good. When I heard the news that it was being stopped, I was devastated and frustrated. I felt totally abandoned. I feel like the little bit of hope I had has now been snatched away.”
Tragically, Sarah’s story isn’t unusual during the pandemic. Research from University College London (UCL) and Data-Can, a health data research hub for cancer diagnosis and treatment in the UK, estimated that the lives of nearly 18,000 people with cancer in England are at risk after hospitals had to suspend treatment to prepare for the influx of coronavirus patients.
Experts claim that an extra 6,270 people in England who’ve been newly diagnosed with the disease could die from it over the next 12 months as a direct result of the disruption caused by coronavirus. Urgent referrals by GPs for cancer tests have fallen by 76 per cent, and appointments for chemotherapy by 60 per cent, since February. The pandemic has also deterred people from seeking an early diagnosis, as they fear going to hospital to have warning signs checked out. A survey undertaken last month revealed that nearly half of the public have concerns about seeking help during the coronavirus pandemic, meaning many conditions may go undiagnosed.
FRIGHTENED
Dr Adam Friedmann, leading consultant dermatologist at Stratum Dermatology Clinics (Stratumclinics.com), told Closer, “Tragically, we will see an increase in what could have been avoidable deaths. There is never a benefit to waiting for cancer treatment, and yet that’s what people are being forced to do.
“Hospitals had no choice but to move staff over to help on the COVID-19 wards. But the effects of the pandemic will last for years for cancer patients. Every department in the NHS already works at over 100 per cent capacity, and I can’t see how we will catch up. I estimate that for every week treatment is suspended, the backlog will take six months to clear, leading to hundreds of thousands of patients having their treatment delayed. And the key with cancer is to get it treated as early as possible, before it’s had a chance to spread.”
Sarah is desperate to resume her treatment and hopes that another clinical trial will become available. Because of the current pandemic, she is using lockdown as a chance to spend more time with her family. Sarah says, “I know the risks – I’m very vulnerable if I catch COVID-19. But I refuse to spend my last days worrying. I was frightened, but now I am remaining positive. I just want to make as many memories as I can with my children while I’m still able to.”
❛ I FEEL LIKE THE LITTLE BIT OF HOPE I HAD HAS NOW BEEN SNATCHED AWAY ❜