When mum-of-two Lisa Monk from Texas began experiencing stomach pains she ‘thought was a kidney stone’, she booked a routine doctor’s appointment.
Lisa then found herself in booked in for a CT scan at the end of 2022.
Her appointment showed that she had ‘two kidney stones’ but also flagged ‘a mass’ on her spleen. Following this discovery, Lisa had her spleen removed in January 2023.
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The organ was sent to three different pathology labs before being tested at a fourth lab where it tested positive for an aggressive form of blood vessel cancer called 'clear cell angiosarcoma'.
Lisa recounts: “I was with my mum and he asked if I was okay to get bad news in front of her. This is when he told me it was cancer.
"I went into shock. The diagnosis was horrible and [they] told me it was terminal.
"It was a blood vessel type of cancer found in the spleen and told me that the most optimistic thing he could say was to give me 15 months [to live].”
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Lisa, a 39-year-old higher education worker says she ‘prayed’ about the diagnosis, and initially didn’t tell her children it was terminal - instead telling them it was ‘bad’ but she was ‘going to fight’ it.
"My oldest son took it the hardest. My little girl was very good at hiding her feelings but I found out from her teacher was getting overwhelmed about it at school”, Lisa says.
Lisa was then referred to a specialist hospital for cancer patients and after attending her first appointment in March 2023, was hospitalised immediately to begin chemotherapy.
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Lisa lost all of her hair during chemo, and was left with ‘silvery skin’ and vomited regularly following more rounds.
Then the impossible happened.
Lisa recounts the events in April 2023, saying: “I saw the nurse practitioner first and she just asked me about my symptoms and she was scrolling on the computer while she was talking to me.
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"All of sudden she just stops talking and has this look on her face.
"She turned to me and looked completely horrified and told me she needed to get the doctor and then ran out of the room.
"She left me alone for about 15 minutes and the doctor came back in. He said a lot of medical lingo to me and then told me I didn't have cancer.”
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Lisa felt confused that they were treating this as a bad thing - after all, the chemo had obviously worked.
Lisa continued: "The doctor then told me that I never had cancer.
"The doctor then congratulated me, which really bothered me. At the time I was in shock but now I feel the more appropriate response would be 'I'm sorry'.
"I asked for a copy of their pathology report and I found a hallway to call my husband and tell him the news.”
It later transpired that the initial report that had diagnosed her with terminal cancer had been passed onto the hospital, but because of their own policies, they had requested her spleen to carry out their own tests.
The hospital's test came back clear showing she never had cancer. Lisa claims the hospital did not check their report until the April appointment - an entire month after they had received it.
"I had had chemotherapy during this time and they could have told me a month earlier and I would have avoided the second round of chemotherapy if they had bothered to read their own pathology report”, Lisa said.
Lisa has expressed her anger at having to endure chemotherapy needlessly and now has to deal with the aftermath.
She said: “A year on from what happened to me, I'm angry. They ruined my health and my insides are cooked.”
There are also the huge financial and emotional repercussions of this huge mistake, too.
Lisa explained: “Financially we're still paying medical bills. Cancer is expensive and I couldn't get any of my bills dismissed.
"I was writing goodbye letters and letters to the grandchildren I would never meet and the weddings I would never attend.
"I also still looked like I had cancer. I was bald and did not appear to be well. It was a daily reminder that it was something we had all lived through.
"I grieve for my kids for having to even go through something like this in their lives where they thought they were going to lose their mum.”
As for what the issue had actually been, Lisa concluded: "In the end they determined that my spleen was going to rupture which is why it had the mass on it. It was just blood vessel activity and no cancer in it."
Topics: Health, Real Life, US News, Mental Health, Parenting
Kya Buller