Scots cancer patient says her life has been 'ruined' after treatment delayed by Covid
25.01.2023 - 08:25
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A cancer patient told how her life was “ruined” afer she was denied cancer treatment because of the Covid lockdown. Fiona Weir, 44, was concerned about the changing shape and colour of a mole but she was unable to see a doctor face to face during lockdown.
She had gone to her GP in January 2020 and, while she wasn’t too concerned, she said she would refer her to a dermatologist. But then lockdown hit and despite the changes her surgery said they weren’t seeing anyone face to face and no appointment arrived from dermatology because of the pandemic.
Fiona watched as the mole turned from light brown to dark brown, then black and grew in size. By the end of April, it had grown massively and she was having sleepless nights but she was still unable to access medical help.
The following month when a red ring appeared around it a second GP asked her to send a photograph of the mole. She was referred to dermatology as an emergency and she was seen a week later. The mole was cut out straight away but it took until September before they decided to remove the lymph nodes.
And it was November before the operation was carried out – six months after her skin cancer was discovered. By the time the results of the lymph node biopsy from her groin came back her cancer was at stage three but it was January 2021 before treatment started – a full year after she first raised concerns about her mole.
She said: “It is completely unacceptable but I count myself as one of the lucky ones. There were other people treated at the same time in a much worse state than me because of delays.
“I now have lymphodema in my right breast because they had to take the lymph nodes from under my arm and it has caused a fluid build-up. This has ruined my whole life.
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