A young woman with cancer has said she waited so long for treatment for her tumour that it had almost tripled in size by the time it was removed.
Kayleigh McLean had initially thought a lump she discovered in her throat could have been related to covid but had it checked out after she began struggling to swallow. The 24-year-old was told after an ultrasound that it was in fact a solid mass measuring 3cm.
She was referred to the ear, nose and throat department at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Kayleigh, who lives in Campbeltown, with her husband Eli, 28, and step-daughter Eve, 10, was told she’d be seen within a fortnight last November but it took until January before she had a biopsy at Glasgow’s Gartnavel Hospital, reports the Daily Record.
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A few weeks later she was told there was a “high possibility” the lump was cancerous and would have to be cut out along with half her thyroid gland. She then had to undergo further tests before the operation went ahead in June – months after the discovery.
Under the target waiting times for cancer, her operation should have gone ahead within 31 days.
Kayleigh, who is Eli’s carer, said: “I only got my operation because there was a cancellation. I was phoning every couple of weeks and was told people with cancer were being given priority.
"But I had been told there was a high possibility I had cancer and I was already awaiting genetic testing because so many of my family have had cancer. My dad died from stomach cancer two years ago and my grandfather was diagnosed and died of oesophageal cancer in the time I had waited for treatment.
"I just felt I was brushed aside. The day after my operation, I asked how big it was because I could feel it growing in the time I waited.
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"They told me it was eight centimetres – quite a difference to the three centimetres it was measured at in January – and my cancer was at stage three. They said it as if it was nothing.”
Kayleigh was officially diagnosed with cancer last month and underwent a second operation to remove the remainder of her thyroid. She will now have radioactive iodine treatment at the Beatson but is still waiting for a start date and she claimed the hospital has not been in touch about her treatment plan.
She said: “Everything I know about the treatment I have found out myself on the internet. I feel very let down.”
An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokesman stated: “We would be happy to discuss Ms McLean’s recent care plan and treatment, as well as any further concerns she may have.”
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