A woman was told she was too heavy for an operation to remove a huge ovarian 'cyst' - but doctors had got her weight wrong by an enormous six stone.
Jennifer Newby had been in crippling pain for months and was even forced to stop work as a carer as she could barely leave the house.
The 29-year-old was prescribed powerful medication and told she needed surgery after being rushed to A&E with severe abdominal pain in September 2020.
Due to Covid she was left on a long waiting list.
During a pre-op assessment, Jennifer, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, was then told her BMI was too high to go ahead with the mass removal and she was taken off the NHS list.
Eventually, after insisting on speaking to a doctor in person, medics realised they had made a major mistake by recording her weight incorrectly.
"Yes, mistakes were made and hopefully learned from, however I am generally grateful to Salford Royal for what they have done for me," she told LancsLive.
"I want to give hope to anyone stuck on waiting lists that while it may not seem like it now, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, to keep advocating for yourself and to not give up hope."
Jennifer was passing out and vomiting prior to being taken to hospital.
The next two years were a nightmare as she waited for the pandemic backlog to clear.
She couldn't even put her socks on without help due to the pain she was in.
What was thought initially to be a cyst started out as a 17cm mass but continued to grow as large as 24cm.
Intermittent scans were months apart as the NHS struggled to keep pace with patients needing treatment as the virus spread through the country.
Jennifer had been told the mass needed removing as it had twisted in on itself and cut off its own blood supply.
"The ovary was dead and would have to be removed," she continued, adding she didn't know at the time how much damage it was doing to her body.
She was worried she wouldn't be able to have children, with doctors saying they wouldn't know how serious it was until the mass was under the knife.
Jennifer was given surgery dates but they were all cancelled with the hospital playing catch-up.
In spring 2022 she was then removed from the list completely because of the recording error.
She had been told she would have the operation around June last year.
"I was then told over the phone that I wouldn’t be getting the surgery - my BMI was too high," she explained.
“I had been gaining weight because the sheer pain had made me more sedentary and stopped me leaving the house, and I was having hormone fluctuations because of the cyst which was affecting my weight too.
“It turned out that they had weighed me 40kg higher than I was at the pre-op. Then I had to go through being put back on the waiting list - it seemed like failure after failure.”
Jennifer did not have the energy to be angry at the confusion.
After living in pain for 18 months, she sat in the hospital car park and cried with relief.
She finally had the surgery in September last year, almost two years to the day after first going to A&E.
Once the 'cyst' was removed it was found to be a benign tumour.
She is now being slowly brought off the heavy painkillers prescribed, which she said has been "difficult".
Jennifer never returned to her job in social care and now works in retail.
She said just getting out of the house has made a "big difference" to her mental health.
Jennifer and her partner are now looking forward to their first holiday in years to celebrate her upcoming 30th birthday.
Alison Kelly, Director of Nursing at Salford Care Organisation said: "We would like to apologise to Ms. Newby for any delays she experienced in her treatment at Salford Care Organisation.
"Like many NHS services, we are working hard to reduce our waiting lists to ensure patients are seen as soon as possible.
"We have spoken to Ms. Newby to discuss any concerns she may have about her care or treatment."
