A mother who made 200 contacts with her general practitioner for an appointment revealed that she received her cancer diagnosis only after switching surgeries.
Jolene Segrave stated that she attempted to be seen at The Ridge Medical Centre, Bradford, for approximately two months.
In October, the 32-year-old woman began complaining of acute fatigue and itchiness all over her body, before losing weight and experiencing night sweats.
After drinking, the mother of three thought she was having a heart attack.
In February, she was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
Ms. Segrave didn’t discover she had an aggressive form of blood cancer until she moved her entire family to a different general practitioner, who then referred her to specialists.
She stated, “I called 200 times to reach someone.”
When I eventually got through on a particular call, they disconnected me before I entered the queueing system.
I relocated my entire family away from The Ridge Medical Centre.
Ms. Segrave, who has children aged ten, five, and one, added, ‘I thought I would have a heart attack. It is not something you anticipate at the age of 32.
“I would advise anyone with a lump to have it evaluated immediately,”
As I did, you may need to alter your primary care physician.
Ms. Segrave also reported that she began to feel ill approximately six months ago, exhibiting an alarming array of symptoms.
She claims that screen captures from her phone prove she made hundreds of abortive calls to her doctor’s office and once spent 53 minutes on hold before being disconnected.
In December, she registered her family with Bradford Student Health Services. There she was given an appointment and diagnosed with two neck tumors.
Then, she was referred to the Two Week Wait program, which requests an urgent appointment with a cancer specialist for those whose symptoms may indicate the disease.
A specialist at the Bradford Royal Infirmary examined Ms. Segrave before sending her for an ultrasound-guided biopsy.
Ms. Segrave received the devastating diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare malignancy of the lymphatic system, in February.
Hodgkin lymphoma originates from white blood cells.
The disease is named after Thomas Hodgkin, the English physician who first identified it in 1832.
It affects roughly 2,000 individuals per year in the United Kingdom and 8,500 in the United States.
Since then, Ms. Segrave has begun chemotherapy for the disease, which was discovered in her neck, armpit, abdomen, and bones, and has shaved off her hair after it came out during a nap.
She stated, “This form of cancer is extremely aggressive.” There are six escalation cycles. I am fine, but the chemotherapy makes you quite exhausted.
