Doctors dismissed a new mother's fears as "anxiety" after she realized she had terminal cancer while undergoing a C-section. When her son Ray was born via Caesarean section in 2021, Lois Walker, 37, was sadly diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Cancer was discovered in her ovaries, abdominal walls, and lymph nodes, which was tragic.
Mom Discovered She Had Terminal Cancer While Undergoing A C-Section
She went to A&E several times, only to be prescribed anxiety medication and urged to avoid dairy.
Sadly, doctors now claim there is no way to stop cancer after six rounds of chemotherapy and two procedures.
Lois said: "It's been diabolical. They call themselves health professionals, and they're supposed to be giving us care, but that is negligence.”
"I just feel like it could have been caught sooner, so I wouldn't have this late diagnosis - and I'm leaving three kids.”
"If the NHS does not acknowledge that things need to change then I feel sorry for everybody and anybody."
Lois, a buyer at an engineering firm, first felt ill in June 2020, when she began to have unusual bathroom habits and diaphragm swelling.
She attended Barnsley Hospital and called doctors at Dove Valley Practice in Worsbrough regularly, but was told she might have irritable bowel syndrome.
Lois continued to call her doctor as her symptoms intensified, but the doctors just prescribed her hypochondria medicines.
She said: "I was going to the doctors, but I couldn't tell them anything new because it was the same symptoms always, so they treated me with antacids.”
"Then, I got told it could be health anxiety, so they put me on citalopram.”
"I already suffered from skin cancer, so I said to my doctor, 'You don't think I could have cancer?'" And he said, "Oh no, it's just you getting old and bodies don't work as well."
Lois found out she was pregnant in December 2020, and her gender reveals scan put her in excruciating pain 14 weeks later.
She said: "I could not deal with this pain, and the further the pregnancy went on, the more excruciating it became. It got to the point where I couldn't walk or eat.”
"The doctor said that I weighed the same as I did 12 months ago, and by this time, I was nine months pregnant - and that didn't seem to ring any alarm bells."
She finally told doctors that she was willing to kill herself if they didn't take her concerns seriously after the pain got unbearable.
She was brought to the hospital for pain management and given morphine, but doctors did not conduct a thorough investigation into what was causing her discomfort.
Lois added: "Then the final straw was when they had to get the mental health team involved because I said that it had reached the point where I would have to end both our lives, and I feel ashamed to say that."
Lois's doctor then looked into her worries further and discovered a lump behind her womb, prompting them to deliver her baby the next day.
And on September 3, 2021, while giving birth to her third son, Ray, she learned from the doctor treating her that she was most certainly suffering from cancer.
Lois said: "When they opened me up, he said, 'I thought you said you didn't have any abdominal surgery?' and I said I hadn't.”
"That's when I knew something had been found, as they called a few doctors in.”
"They just said that my abdomen was so diseased that they needed to send off some biopsies and I'd have to wait. But I knew anyway.”
"The doctor grabbed my hand and he cried and he said that he'd let me down."
Despite receiving chemotherapy immediately after receiving her diagnosis, Lois learned that her cancer had spread and would be fatal.