Kellee Harvey, 27 years old, claimed that a consultant told her that the lump in her breast was only a ‘benign’ condition and was discharged from the hospital. She was told that she had nothing to worry about, according to Mirror.
Harvey said, “She said it was a fibroadenoma and it can get bigger or smaller and it’s going to be painful but it’s nothing to be worried about. Those words stuck in my mind. So, when it got bigger and more painful I thought I was being a hypochondriac.” Three months later, a biopsy was taken.
The lump of Harvey’s breast had grown in a size that was three times more than the first time she felt it. Then, four other lumps started appearing on her as well. Although she decided to have a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, it was already too late for her to do anything. The cancer had already spread to her lungs.
Harvey is now considered as terminally ill. She was extremely baffled by the incompetency of the doctors who worked with her. She claimed that she wasn’t offered a biopsy even though she qualified for one under national guidelines for women over 25 years old.
Harvey said, “How did the doctors get it so wrong? I feel so let down by the system. I don’t know how long I’ve got, I haven’t asked. But they said the treatment I am having is to prolong life not to cure.”
Harvey, who used to work in magazines, lives in of Wombwell in Barnsley. She felt a lump in her breast in February last year, and went to visit her doctor. The whole doctor’s appointment had turned into a grueling ordeal.
Harvey’s first visited Barnsley Hospital, which is located in South Yorkshire, on March 1st last year, and her second appointment was dated on May 17th. Harvey said, “They are professionals and they should know what they are doing. I can understand that everyone makes mistakes, but this is my life on the line.”
Harvey’s family had been feeling so much pain to see her struggling like this for she is the only child of her parents who spent 13 years trying to conceive and have a baby of their own.
Harvey added, “They are watching helpless and cannot understand what has happened, I don’t think anyone could understand it.”
Harvey, who had started to struggle in terms of walking or even breathing, urged everyone who felt even the tiniest bit of doubt with their diagnosis to get a second opinion.
A spokesperson for Barnsley Hospital said, “We are unable to comment on the specific details for reasons of confidentiality. The trust takes incidents of this nature very seriously.”
