Help Me Save My Wife Angie's Life (September 19th — Updated)

I never imagined I would have to write these words. My wife, Angie, is the love of my life, my best friend, and an incredible mother to our three beautiful children. Angie is the heart of our family, and right now, we are terrified of losing her.

In May, our lives changed forever. Angie was diagnosed with Cancer. What we know now, is that her cancer is an exceptionally rare and highly aggressive subtype called squamous cell carcinoma, accounting for fewer than 0.3% of rectal cancer cases, it has already spread into the surrounding organs and tissues of her pelvis as well as deep pelvic lymph nodes

The NHS has a 62-day cancer treatment standard, meaning treatment should commence within 62 days of an urgent suspected-cancer referral. In Angie's case, she would have reached 126 days before her treatment began.

When we discovered the aggressive nature of the cancer, realising any delay could make a difference in her outcome, we felt we had no option but to explore private healthcare, to give her the best chance of a cure.

Our experience with the NHS, raised serious concerns for us about cancer waiting times within our local NHS Trust in Norfolk.

According to NHS England figures, at the time of Angie's NHS care, Norfolk and Norwich hospital was the 8th worst-performing Trust in England for cancer waiting times.

This isn't about blaming individual NHS staff, Angie was a nurse herself for over twenty years. We know how hard so many people within the NHS work. However there were a number of avoidable delays and errors in her care.

We have now made a start on her treatment privately, but we still need your help. Thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone who has supported us so far, Angie has started her treatment at GenesisCare in Newmarket, under the care of oncologist Dr Sarah Smith.

No amount is too small and every donation helps us continue Angie's treatment and gives her the best possible chance of getting through this and, hopefully, returning to the life we all love. If you can't donate, we completely understand. Sharing our story may help someone else awaiting treatment, and understand what your expectations should be.

Costings

The current estimated cost of the specialist private care Angie needs is £41,793. So why are we only asking for £28,000? We have used our savings, borrowed money and received financial help from friends and family to cover some of the costs.

On top of the estimated £41,793 there may also be unpredictable costs such as urgent consultations, extra scans, medication, possible blood transfusions and the many complications associated with chemotherapy that may need hospital admission. Whilst the cost of private treatment is daunting, we simply could not have managed it alone, and appreciate your help.

How we ended up choosing private care.

One of the hardest parts of this entire experience has been the waiting, the lack of communication and the awful delays in Angie's care.

Knowing that her diagnosis could also have come much sooner has made this even harder. For over a year, Angie knew something wasn't right, she visited her GP time and time again, desperately searching for answers from her symptoms.

It wasn't until she finally found a GP who truly listened to her symptoms of pain and weight loss, that she was immediately referred for a CT scan. Unfortunately, by then, the cancer had already spread.

Scans, Investigations and Pathology Delays

Angie has had to push for every single appointment, and every scan following the referral in May, she has been met with one delay after another. Her pathology results were significantly delayed, following her colonoscopy. Biopsies were taken in June, which are an essential part of diagnosis and treatment. Despite the consultant requesting a three day analysis of the samples, due to the obvious tumour seen during the colonoscopy, they instead took weeks to be returned.

By July, the pathology results had been returned to the hospital, but Angie had still not been told the full result.

Missed Deadlines — Lost Referral

A letter dated 10 July documented a plan to commence Angie's chemoradiotherapy within four weeks and included an immediate referral to Oncology. This didn’t happen because her referral was lost

Her oncology referral was initially declined by the Colo Rectal Oncology team, because they couldn’t decide where the primary cancer was. However, within the Colo- Rectal team they have a dedicated Gynae and Colo Rectal Specialist who could have accepted her case

Angie was then effectively lost in the system until 27 July, when we contacted the hospital to ask why her treatment hadn't started. Angie had called every week, and time and time again was reassured that she would be seen soon.

We were beginning to feel the pressure, she had already needed emergency surgery at the beginning of July, as the cancer was growing and caused an obstruction in her bowel. By this point Angie had lost four stone in weight.

Thankfully despite this major operation, we were happy to know that she could have started chemoradiotherapy just two weeks later. (If the referral hadn’t been lost) After many phone calls, we were informed that there wasn't even an oncology appointment booked for her at that time, let alone treatment scheduled.

This was an incredibly frightening day to hear that she was not even on a waiting list for oncology

After many phone calls and questions about when Angie would actually start treatment, we were eventually offered an Oncology appointment in September just to discuss her care.

**Low Priority - Concerns **

We were informed by Oncology booking, that Angie was prioritised as low priority by the Oncologist, and she was put to the bottom of the queue again. Despite them having the pathology showing this was an aggressive fast growing cancer, and that clinical guidance indicated that this should be treated as a high-priority case. We were told there were earlier appointment but they had to be saved for people who had a more urgent need.

There was also another serious clinical error, in a letter from the NHS Oncology Consultant to Angie's GP. The letter incorrectly stated that Angie had vulval and anal cancer. This was entirely incorrect.

We were extremely concerned that such an important clinical letter contained an incorrect description of Angie's cancer,

Biopsy Results - Challenged

Angie questioned the team why she was low priority, and asked for her pathology report. This was the day we finally found out the actual biopsy results . The results were read over the telephone to Angie, it was disclosed that Squamous Cell Carcinoma was poorly differentiated. Being a former NHS nurse, she immediately understood the significance of what she was hearing.

Knowing now how rapidly and aggressive this cancer was, we decided we could no longer wait for the NHS, and that we had to take control of the situation ourselves. With this form of cancer, every day matters.

Private Care or NHS

Before we decided private care, we wanted to give the NHS a chance to meet her needs, especially due to the cost involved. Following a number of complaints to the hospital, plus support from MacMillan and in person consultation with the Deputy Head of Nursing, Angie was offered an appointment on 11 August to discuss her results and treatment options with oncology.

During that appointment again the area the cancer was incorrectly described and we were informed that Angie’s soonest available opportunity to start treatment with Chemoradiotherapy would have been 126 days after her original urgent referral.

We simply could not accept waiting that long with such an aggressive cancer, that had already spread into her lymph nodes.

We therefore made the incredibly difficult decision to fund Angie's treatment privately with the help of GoFundMe, plus the help of family and friends. This was a decision we never expected to have to make, and feel desperately let down by the hospital.

We experienced delays, lost referrals, poor communication, incorrect information and prioritisation decisions.

We would like improved communication, to make sure patients are aware of their results as soon as they are received, they were actively hidden from her. When the news was broken, they shielded the pathology report from her. To be made aware of the delays at the point of diagnosis would have allowed us to explore our options much earlier. Including asking whether a referral to Addenbrooke’s Hospital was possible, given its strong cancer waiting-time performance.

A little bit about Angie

Angie has dedicated more than 20 years of her life to caring for other people. She worked as an NHS nurse in A&E and Medical Emergencies, supporting patients and their families through some of the darkest moments of their lives.

Many of you will also know her from our artists' supply shop in Bawdeswell, where she has poured her heart into creating a place filled with creativity, kindness and community.

She has spent her life helping other people.

She never imagined that one day she would be fighting for her own health while simultaneously having to fight to get the treatment she urgently needs.

Our three children need their mum. I need my wife.

We want Angie to be here to watch our children grow up, celebrate their milestones, share her love, wisdom and laughter, and make the memories that every family deserves.

How the funds will be used

To date the amount paid for Angie's cancer care and treatment is £35,193

All money raised will go towards paying for Angie's care including

Daily Chemotherapy for six weeks, Monday - Friday

Daily Radiotherapy for six weeks, Monday - Friday

Oncology consultations and follow-up reviews

CT scans

MRI scans

Blood tests

Essential medication

Other essential emergency treatment-related costs.

Any unexpected costs or complications that may arise during treatment

We will use the money responsibly and for the purpose it was raised — to give Angie the best possible chance of receiving the right treatment as quickly as possible.

Our hope is that this treatment will give her the chance to get through this awful diagnosis, and get back to doing the things she loves with the family and friends who mean so much to her.

How you can help

Please donate if you can.

No amount is too small.

Every donation helps us continue Angie's treatment and brings us one step closer to giving her the best possible chance.

If you are unable to donate, please share our story with your family, friends and community.

Your share could reach someone who is able to help, or someone who is unaware of the cancer pathway guideline expectations.

Asking for help goes against everything we are used to.

Angie has spent her life caring for others, never expecting that one day she would need others to help care for her.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading our story, for your kindness, your generosity and for standing beside our family during the hardest time of our lives.

Every donation, every share and every message of support gives us hope.

Thank you.

Chris & Angie

Nick, Matt and Will