Laura’s Eleventh Hour

Written by Sarah Hand, Laura’s younger sister.

Nothing in life is guaranteed so take time today to think, learn to forgive and cherish the ones you love. No one knows what tomorrow will bring and everything can change in a moment.

Show a little bit of light in your days and be kind to one another for everyone is fighting their own personal battle.

 
This is my story;


The beginning of 2020 started off like all the others before, bringing the New Year in with laughter, family and friends but only 9 months later my sister would be diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, turning all our lives upside down.

 

In February Laura started getting odd pains in her chest but didn’t feel it was bad enough to call the doctors over. Thefollowing month the country went in to national lockdown. Following government guidelines her employer, The University of Liverpool, closed and asked employees to work from home.  

 

In April her chest pains got slightly worse and by the end of May they were becoming more frequent and severe so she contacted the doctor. Laura was referred onto the cardiac department at the Royal Liverpool Hospital but due to coronavirus restrictions no face to face appointments were taking place.  After a telephone consultation the hospital decided the pain she had wasn’t related to her heart in any way and discharged her back to her GP.  Still not knowing what was causing the pain she was prescribed tablets for the relief of acid reflux.

 

In June the doctors decided to test for H.Pylori believing it may be a stomach ulcer but after 3 weeks the tests came back negative. Throughout the month her chest pains were becoming unbearable and Laura ended up in A&E a few times with breathing difficulties yet each time we were told that the chest X-rays, ECGs and blood test results were all normal. At the end of June a Dr within the hospital A&E department suggested it could be GORD (Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease) and suggested she should ask her GP to refer her for an endoscopy.

 

In July the GP referred Laura for an endoscopy however due to a backlog of patients created over lockdown herappointment was cancelled. Laura was now practically bed bound for most of the day and had lost 2 stone in six weeks.  

 

At the beginning of August the GP prescribed Laura Oramorph to help try and subside the pain and referred her again for an endoscopy, this time as an urgent case. Due to theamount of weight she had lost in such a short space of time,Aintree hospital wanted her to have a CT scan before they performed an endoscopy.  On 25th August an appointment for the CT scan became available at Spire and Aintree booked her in the following week for an endoscopy.

 

On 2nd September Laura had her endoscopy and we were told there and then that the scan had showed two tumours and Laura was diagnosed with oesophagus cancer (this was also supported by the CT scan results). They were certain the tumours were malignant and took a total of 10 biopsies todetermine the stage of the cancer and what treatments would be available.

 

A week later, on Wednesday 9th September, we were given the devastating news that the cancer had spread to other organs meaning it was now at stage 4 and incurable. They have given her a prognosis of 6-12 months however Laura is determined to fight this, not only for herself but for her daughter Ellie.

 

Since September, each day has brought its own battleincluding unexpected stays in hospital, blood transfusions and at the beginning of the month Liverpool went from tier 3 straight into a second national lockdown, so at a time when you need friends and family most we’re unable to see them.  

After three rounds of chemotherapy we found out on Tuesday 17th November that sadly the treatment had been unsuccessfuland the tumours have grown.  December will be a new challenge as Laura begins a course of radiotherapy which they hope will attack some tumours and enable her to swallow foods again.

 

My sister is an amazing mother. She raised Ellie singlehandedly from the age of three, being her best friend as well as her mum and they have formed an inseparable bond.They had made so many plans for the future, one beingtravelling the world together once Ellie had finished sixthform. Now unable to do this we are planning to create asmany special memories for them at home. Since Laura’s diagnosis this has proven not only how strong their bond really is but how strong we are as a family.

 

Although over the year Laura has shown some symptoms which could point to oesophageal cancer she doesn’t fallwithin the category of ‘people most likely to contract it’. This meant from May-Aug she was suspected of having gastric reflux and was prescribed medicine to treat general stomach acid & heartburn. Oesophageal cancer is slow growing and often grows unnoticed for many years before any symptoms are felt meaning most diagnosis’ are made in the advanced stages.

Any money raised through this will go towards making lots of happy memories but I also want to make as many people as possible aware of this cruel hidden illness.

 

 

Oesophagus Cancer

 

There are many possible symptoms but they might be hard to spot

 

They can affect your digestion, such as

• having problems swallowing (dysphagia)
• feeling or being sick
• heartburn or acid reflux
• symptoms of indigestion, such as burping a lot
 

Other symptoms include:

• a cough that won’t go away
• a hoarse voice
• loss of appetite or losing weight without trying to
• shortness of breath
• feeling tired or having no energy
• pain in your throat or the middle of your chest
* If you have another condition, such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, you may get symptoms like these regularly,

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You might be more likely to get it if you:

• are over the age of 75, it's not very common in people under 45
• are a man
• have certain medical conditions, such as long-term, severe acid reflux or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, or a condition called Barrett's oesophagus