It took a year to get diagnosed with cancer after the doctor missed 1……
Even just getting a diagnosis can sometimes show to be an uphill activity in today’s medical panorama. Natasha Reynolds, 23, from Sheffield, visited her GP in January 2023 after dealing with bloating and indigestion for 4 months.
She was told it may either be irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or her current endometriosis diagnosis. But in March 2024, when she visited the A&E at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, docs discovered a tumor weighing 4.4lbs. As per NHS data, 40% of sufferers are only diagnosed with ovarian cancer after reaching emergency care.Â
“At the time of my diagnosis if a professional had ever felt my stomach they would have felt the tumour, but nobody ever did,” she told BBC.
By the time she had surgical procedure to take away the tumor in June 2024, it had grown to 8 inches.Â
Reynolds now pushes for girls to “listen to their bodies and advocate for themselves” and for medical professionals to “listen to what people are saying”.
‘Women and their pain is being dismissed and misdiagnosed’
Reynolds shared her journey as a half of a new NHS initiative, called Jess’s rule, which urges GPs to “think again” if they see somebody sick thrice and can not level to a diagnosis.
The initiative was named after Jessica Brady who reached out to her GP over 20 occasions before being diagnosed with cancer.
“If someone presents the first time you may think maybe it is related to a pre-existing condition or it is just a generic bloating or digestive issue,” Reynolds told BBC. “But, if the same person keeps coming back time and time again with the same symptoms something is clearly wrong and investigations need to take place.”
“Women are being dismissed; their pain is dismissed and they’re being misdiagnosed along the way,” Joanne Stanford, from Ovarian Cancer Action said to BBC.
“Too many women are being told it’s IBS, they have menopausal symptoms, or stress, or constipation and being sent away and being told to change their diet. They end up going back and forward so many times before further tests are even being done.”
Reynolds’ companion calls out medical professionals who ‘disregarded and ignored’ her struggling
Tom Holden, Reynolds’ companion, expressed his frustration at how Reynolds was dismissed during her most excruciatingly painful moments.Â
“There was no physical examination of Natasha ever by a doctor, which I think is just the most disgusting failure of their profession, but also their compassion, they didn’t have any,” he said. “They brushed it off and ignored it.”
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