A CANCER sufferer has told of her frustration at being 'sent on a fast-track pathway for lung cancer' after she was ignored when she thought she had symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Alison Green, 49 and member of Weymouth-based cancer charity GO Girls, went through multiple tests over a year before she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, despite asking her doctors if she had cancer and her grandmother dying from the disease.
She said: "I felt I was just not heard. I started my journey in 2019, yet it took to 2020 for me to get my diagnosis. I was sent for liver scans, bladder scans and was even told I had a sexually transmitted disease.
"On multiple occasions I asked if it was cancer, only to be told 'no'.
It was not until Alison had an ultrasound for a urinary tract infection (UTI) that doctors became more concerned and sent her for a blood test, which then aided her diagnosis.
She said: "I was called back to the surgery urgently. I felt so cross I had been shouting for months but had never really been heard."
Alison, from Essex, was not diagnosed until the cancer had already spread to her lungs and, by this time, getting an appointment with a GP was a challenge due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alison said: "The Covid pandemic was kicking off and I couldn't see a GP. I felt so frustrated. I was sent on a pathway for lung cancer."
Alison is using her voice to encourage other women to speak up if they think they might have ovarian cancer symptoms as part of Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month which runs until the end of September.
Go Girls has launched the #BeHeard campaign which urges improved, earlier diagnosis for women with ovarian cancer.
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Hilary Maxwell, chair of GO Girls and gynae-oncology clinical nurse specialist, said: "Ovarian cancer has some of the longest intervals between referral and start of treatment. We need to be asking why, and what can be done to change this? Alison’s story is all too familiar."
Sharon McCartney, trustee of GO Girls and qualified nurse, said: "When signs or symptoms do appear, they often go unrecognised, leading to delays in diagnosis. We are now demanding women must be heard.
"Whilst we accept this is not an easy disease to diagnose, clinicians must consider ovarian cancer as a possibility if women present with symptoms suggestive of the disease."
For more information and to access support, visit www.gogirlssupport.org
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