Kelly Pendry’s symptoms were initially diagnosed as a normal part of her early post-pregnancy period.
Kelly Pendry has terminal cancer and has not been diagnosed for several years.
She lives in Ewloe, in the county of Flintshire (West Wales), is 42 years old and is the mother of two children.
In 2021, she was diagnosed with uterine leiomyosarcoma. But her initial symptoms — “heavy and prolonged periods” and “a lot of pain” — started in 2016.
She wonders if things would have been different if she had been diagnosed more quickly.
Leiomyosarcoma is a rare type of cancer. Cancer is responsible for less than 5 percent of malignant tumors of the uterus, according to researchers.
In Brazil, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, cervical cancer is the third most common type of cancer among women.
Pendry says that when she first described her symptoms to her doctor, she was told that “the body really takes time to normalize. [depois da gravidez]”.
She says she was advised to take birth control pills or insert an IUD. On another occasion, she received a prescription for antidepressants.
“I felt like a drama queen,” she says. “I felt like I was overreacting, like ‘this is kind of in my head, is this stupid?'”
But Pendry’s condition was debilitating.
“There were days where I writhed in pain,” she recalls. “In the days when I didn’t bleed, [a dor] it was smaller. I was gaining weight without explanation. I had this stomach, really, really bloated.”
‘How are you doing?’
It wasn’t until April 2020 that a local general practitioner — whom Pendry describes as a “hero” — agreed something was wrong after noticing there were bumps in her abdomen.
“For the first time, someone has confirmed something,” he says. “She asked ‘how are you doing?’ I replied ‘I’m not'”.
In November 2020, Kelly Pendry was diagnosed with a benign fibroid. Doctors recommended that a hysterectomy would be the best course of action, but the pandemic meant that her follow-up appointments were continually delayed and the surgery never took place.
As of June 2021, Pendry was bleeding every day and “looked like she was nine months pregnant.”
It was around this time that a doctor first hinted at the possibility of a sarcoma, but the diagnosis would only come in November 2021, after a lung biopsy.
Around this time, Pendry discovered that his cancer was already stage four and terminal. “A nurse told me not to make plans for Christmas,” she recalls.
Pendry was referred to an oncologist at the Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Liverpool, England. The doctor said he would do his best to cure his cancer, even though he was incurable.
“He asked us what we wanted and we said ‘time.’ As long as humanly possible,” she says.
‘strenuous’ chemotherapy
“I said ‘I can’t think I’m not there for the results [das crianças]’ – silly things, like first boyfriends, girlfriends, graduations. At the time, I thought I wouldn’t see them when I was 10.”
But six aggressive and “grueling” rounds of chemotherapy bought her more time.
Nearly a year after the end of the treatment, Pendry still experiences the side effects of the hormone inhibitors, such as tiredness, pain and hot flashes. But she says “nothing compares” to the pain she’s felt before.
And the fact remains that Pendry still has stage four terminal cancer.
“We’ve had stability for a year,” according to her. “But we know that could change, and very quickly.”
Pendry wants a hysterectomy, but says the option “is no longer available. It seems that since my cancer is stage four, surgery isn’t used to prolong life.”
Kelly Pendry’s husband Michael is hoping to raise £50,000 (about R$310,000) to pay for the operation in the US. “There, surgery is a treatment,” he says.
Pendry does not want to criticize the “wonderful NHS” (British public health service), but believes it has been “carried away by roads that seem to be available in other countries”.
Michael will soon be doing a 290km run from Ewloe to Hanham, near Bristol, England, trying to raise the necessary funds. He described training for the mission as cathartic.
“I just cried while running”
“If I let things pile up on me… I can run and feel better,” she says.
“Yesterday it felt like I got hit by a ton of bricks,” Michael recalls. “I just cried while running. But I felt better afterwards.”
Kelly Pendry is realistic about what the future could hold for her, even with the operation.
“We know they can take it all and it can come back, we know that,” he said. “We just want the kids to know that we’ve tried everything we can. I think it will bring them a lot of comfort.”
Pendry hopes sharing her experience can help others, too. He says he hopes his story “reaches someone early on and makes them say, ‘I want more tests or I’d like to get a referral.’
“We’re talking about women’s health, menopause, menstruation,” she adds. “My hope is that it gets better.”
In a statement, the Board of Health at Betsi Cadwaladr University in Wales said: ‘We are sorry to hear of Ms Pendry’s experience and advise her to contact her GP, who is a contracted professional to the board of health, so that your concerns can be investigated”.
Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Liverpool says it cannot comment on specific patients, but adds: ‘With advanced cancer having spread to other parts of the body, treatments such as chemotherapy targeting cancer cells throughout the body will generally be more effective than surgery. “. .
“We collaborate with the surgical teams of our region. If the intervention is likely to be beneficial, it will be offered, even for incurable tumors”, continues the Center.
“We fully understand how difficult living with late-stage cancer can be, and we encourage Kelly to speak to her clinical team if she has any concerns.”
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
