Agony of woman told she was too young to have cervical cancer
Husband fights to raise £70k for treatment
A WOMAN battling cervical cancer claims she was repeatedly ‘fobbed off’ by doctors who said she was too young to get the disease.
Tracey Burke, from Dundee, claims it was only because she insisted on further investigation of her symptoms that she was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 27.
Mrs Burke is now trying to raise £70,000 for a ‘last hope’ treatment in Germany after the cancer spread.
And she is urging other women who may be in a similar situation to keep going back to their doctor until their condition is investigated.
Mrs Burke, who is now 30, has described her treatment ordeal in a poignant blog.
She had developed symptoms despite having the all-clear in routine cervical smear tests, which can detect the early signs of the disease.
She said: ‘My unexpected journey started in January 2015 when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
‘I had been to the doctor several times but because my smears were clear and my young age, I got fobbed off repeatedly and sent on my way.’
She added: ‘If it wasn’t for me contacting them and insisting on further investigation, God knows where I would have been left.
‘So if anyone reading this is in a similar situation, please do not stop contacting your GP until you’re happy with the answers you’re getting.’
Symptoms of cervical cancer include unusual bleeding and pain, but the disease is rare in young women.
Mrs Burke added: ‘The night we got told I had cancer kind of passed in a blur. I was prepared for it, so no tears from me. But seeing my partner Greg break his heart at the doctor’s – that was the real tough thing.
‘Everyone focuses on the person who has the disease but hardest of all, for me anyway, is watching your loved ones struggle to cope.’
After being diagnosed, she was given chemotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy, a form of internal radiotherapy.
When these treatments failed, Mrs Burke had a hysterectomy to try to remove the remaining cancer. But it was discovered there was cancer in her lymph nodes on both sides of her pelvic area.
She had hoped to be included in a clinical trial of immunotherapy, a potentially promising new cancer treatment.
However, the numbers of patients included in the trial was cut and she was not taken on.
Immunotherapy uses the body’s immune system to help recognise and attack cancer cells.
Her husband, Greg, 34, is now trying to raise £70,000 for private immunotherapy treatment abroad.
He said: ‘All the standard NHS treatments have not worked so the private treatment is our last hope.’
Their Go Fund Me page has raised £22,000 in four days.
Mr Burke wrote: ‘We are now fundraising to have her treated privately at a clinic in Germany who use immunotherapy.
‘I understand times are hard for people but please spare anything you can. I can’t imagine life without Tracey by my side.’
The couple got married in 2016 after spending eight years together.
Following Mrs Burke’s diagnosis, she has had fertility treatment to harvest embryos in the hope that one day they can start a family.
‘Insist on further investigations’