A mum has been given just months to live after her cancer symptoms were dismissed as side-effects of having the Covid jab.
Nurse manager Katie Pritchard, 37, is having to crowdfund £200,000 for private treatment after she was twice misdiagnosed before finding out she had cervical cancer.
The mum-of-two, from Tysoe, Stratford-upon-Avon, went to her GP after finding a lump but was told there was "nothing to worry about" and her symptoms may have been down to the Pfizer vaccine.
She was also told that it may be a prolapsed bladder from having children and was left insulted by another suggestion it was an STI despite 17 years with her partner.
Unhappy with her treatment, Katie independently scheduled an appointment with a gynaecologist and was diagnosed with cervical cancer later that same month.
But she was then forced to wait an agonising three months for her treatment to begin - by which point the cancer had spread.
Katie began five weeks of gruelling radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy in April last year and was told the treatment was a success.
But, in December, after undergoing further scans, she received the heartbreaking news that her cancer had returned and she has now been given months to live.
At the start of this year, Katie was diagnosed with lung, shoulder, spine, and pelvic cancer and started palliative chemotherapy three weeks ago.
Katie will now tie the knot with her long term partner Tom Cronin, 35, a teacher, in an emotional ceremony next Monday.
The couple are also trying to raise money to fund a potentially life-prolonging drug not available on the NHS so they can spend more time together as a family.
Katie said: "When I first went to the doctors with my symptoms, I knew something wasn't right. I had to really push for the nurse practitioner to examine me for the second time in my appointment and she told me there was nothing to worry about.
"I knew it was more than a bladder prolapse and I had been with my soon-to-be husband for 17 years, so I knew it wasn't an STI.
"I was left with no faith, and it didn't make any sense so that is when I booked myself into see a gynaecologist."
Katie said her gynaecologist was "astonished" the cancer hadn't been picked up by the nurse practicioner.
Katie says she was then "passed about" from appointment to appointment for two-and-a-half months waiting for treatment to start at Coventry Hospital.
Feeling frustrated, she referred herself to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust last April where she worked and began treatment almost immediately.
Throughout her five weeks of intense chemotherapy Katie was sick almost every day and lost two stone. She had to make multiple trips to the hospital for IV fluids and had two blood transfusions but in June was told the cancer had gone.
Katie was able to enjoy a family wedding and made such a good recovery she even returned to playing rugby Stratford RFC.
But, more heartache was to follow after a routine check-up scan in September revealed a small dot on her lung, indicating something was wrong.
"It wasn't until I started getting excruciating pain in my shoulder that [doctors] decided to examine further. In this time, the growth in my lung, which was wrongly suggested as an infection, had grown considerably," she said.
Last week, Tom set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for a private immunotherapy drug for Katie to take alongside her ongoing treatment.
The drug named Pembrolizumab costs an eye-watering £6,000 every three weeks and so far, the fundraising page has racked up over £107,000 in donations.
Katie, who is mum to sons Percy, four, and Cass, two, said she started palliative chemotherapy three weeks ago and would continue on it "as long as [her] body can tolerate it".
Katie also said she was "so excited" to marry Tom and said it had been a "long time coming".
"I want to tell people how important it is to live your life and to go on lots of adventures," she said. "Turn off Netflix and go outside and enjoy yourself. You need to live for now and not for the future.
Tom said: "It has been a horrific time. It feels like the entire last year has been waiting, it's extremely frustrating.
"We've got a to-do list, which includes a will and making videos for the boys. So, if the worst does happen, we're prepared for it.
"We're being realists and positive at the same time. It's a weird balance."
Shipston Medical Centre, where Katie says she was misdiagnosed, said they could not comment on individual cases.
A spokesperson for the practice said: "We are unable to comment on an individual's care and treatment, but we would encourage Ms Pritchard to get in touch with us so we can investigate her concerns."
