A woman who was initially diagnosed with pleurisy later found out it was stage-four cancer after waking up looking "pregnant". Linsey Farrington, from Widnes, started suffering with chest pains in April last year with the pain described as "horrendous".
The 37-year-old mum-of-two was treated for pleurisy, which is inflammation of the sheet-like layer that cover the lungs, with medication and had various tests and scans on her lungs which came back clear. Linsey said the pain was exacerbating, despite being on strong medication and would go "through a bottle of Gaviscon a day".
Following numerous blood tests and scans, Linsey became seriously ill over the Easter weekend. Overnight her stomach swelled and was, as she described, "humongous" making her look pregnant.
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Linsey said: "I couldn't move, I couldn't walk, I was just vomiting. It came out the blue, I woke up and it was enormous. I went to A&E and they said there was a nine-hour wait in A&E and they said 'we will send you for an emergency scan in three week'.
"So I obviously came home because they said we will just wait. Then on Easter Monday I went back in and said I am not moving and I can't cope with this pain.
"They scanned me and found all this fluid in my stomach. They did a CAT scan and said they thought they found cancer cells in my omentum, which is my abdominal wall, so they then did surgery to remove the fluid.
"They removed 12 litres of fluid from my stomach and then did a biopsy and from then it was a whirlwind five weeks. The fluid then built up again and I had to have another operation and 10 litres of it drained.
"They then fitted me with a permanent drain which was horrendous and I lost another two, three litres then. But the fluid is cancer, so it is spreading. So that fluid is what is making it spread."
Following this, Linsey said doctors thought she had different forms of cancer, including ovarian, mesothelioma – which occurs in the lining that covers the outer surface of some organs – and secondary cancer in her omentum and bones. She said she was told doctors could not find the primary cancer and told her she "could have weeks to live". However, doctors eventually diagnosed the mum-of-two with a stage four metastatic stomach cancer which has spread to her omentum and spine.
The 37-year-old added: "They found primary in my stomach but they said it was really rare the way its presenting itself. That's why it's not being picked up on any blood tests or anything because it is in the tissue of my stomach."
Linsey was told by doctors to prepare for less than 12 months to live and has been offered palliative care in the form of one round of chemotherapy. After researching, Linsey and her family are now hoping to find alternative treatments which might help prolong Linsey's prognosis.
The 37-year-old said telling her children Harvey, 15, and Lily, 12, "was the worst thing" she has ever done in her life. But since her diagnosis, she is trying to live her best life including going to Disney and making "every moment count".
She said: "Because I feel so well, that mentality while I feel well is we're doing everything we can and making as many memories as we reasonably can. I have planned my whole entire life with them and telling them I am not going to be there is horrendous.
"I can't even think about it, but we just need to do everything we can do now while I am feeling well and I don't know how long I will feel well for, so I have got to do everything while I feel well and do as much as I can with them."
Linsey said she is "desperate for more time" with her children and hopes alternative treatment will help to this. A GoFundMe page has now been set up to raise money for this and a Facebook page for fundraising events.
To donate to the GoFundMe page, please click here. To join the Facebook page for fundraising events, please click here.
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