Cancer patient wants an apology

A Bay mother preparing for what is likely to be her last Christmas says her doctor failed to diagnose the cancer that has taken over her body.
Caro Galloway said she went to her doctor's clinic, which is the subject of a Health and Disability Commissioner complaint and which the Bay of Plenty Times has chosen not to identify, concerned she had a cancerous lump in her breast.
But she says she was repeatedly persuaded out of having it removed.
The mother of two is now riddled with cancer.
Mrs Galloway said all she wants now is an apology to her children she will leave behind.
"If they diagnosed me the first, second, third or fourth time I went in, they might have saved my life. But they didn't," Mrs Galloway said.
"That makes me extra angry because I went quite a few times. I want them to apologise to my children. It's them they have hurt the most."
Mrs Galloway has just completed making memory scrapbooks for her son Jarred Bond, 10, and daughter Jess Pruijn, 16, who she says have been her glue in the ordeal.
It was in 2006 when Mrs Galloway first went to her doctor with pain under her right arm.
"The doctor said it was hormones, even when the pain got to a point so I couldn't lie on my side, she said it was just hormones and not to worry because I was 40," Mrs Galloway said.
"Then I found a lump on my breast. They said it was a cyst, a non-cancerous cyst that would go away."
The pain and lump grew, and other cancer symptoms began to appear. Mrs Galloway said she returned again to the same practice, but saw a different doctor, and asked for the lump to be removed.
She was worried it was cancerous and expressed her concerns once again, she recalls.
"I said I wasn't happy. They wrote in my notes 'non cancerous lump' in big letters."
Mrs Galloway said her doctor then began questioning her reasons for wanting it removed, adding that it would cost her a lot of money - $250. Under pressure to give a reason, Mrs Galloway told her doctor she wanted the lump taken out "for her husband".
She said she was told she was being vain.
Embarrassed, but with faith in a second medical opinion, Mrs Galloway went away again.
"After two months I didn't care if I was [being vain].
"It was just in me, I had to do something about it. So I went back," Mrs Galloway said.
She saw her original GP but as the doctor was unable to offer anything new, a third GP was brought in to remove the "non cancerous cyst". Mrs Galloway said this doctor was going to organise a biopsy, but didn't.
After two weeks on antibiotics, Ms Galloway was referred for an ultrasound at Medex.
They did a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy all in the same hour.
"As soon as they did the ultrasound it was very apparent that I was riddled with cancer."
Mrs Galloway's original breast cancer had spread to her liver and lungs. It was May 2008.
"After being told I was going to die, I had to ring my family and tell them. I have got children, of course I want to do the best I can but once it's been in your liver and lungs, you're terminal."
Since then she found a cancer leaflet detailing the three main symptoms warning people of cancer - unexplained pain, lumps and inverted nipples.
Mrs Galloway said she presented to her doctor with all three symptoms, but it took 19 months before she received any action.
"I would really like an apology. That's all I want.
"I want them to apologise to my kids and my husband.
"They are the ones that when my feet are blistered or when I'm throwing up, they look after me."
Mrs Galloway now receives Waipuna Hospice care.
She is now going through radiation treatment in a last-ditch effort to fight the cancer. If that is unsuccessful, she hopes another bout of chemotherapy will help.
She said she was "going through hell", and was living "from morphine to morphine" because the pain was so great.
A media liaison officer for the Health and Disability Commissioner confirmed they were investigating Mrs Galloway's complaint but would not comment on the matter, citing her privacy.
The Waikato District Health Board confirmed Ms Galloway was undergoing treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre at Waikato Hospital and had provided the Commission with information they requested.
The medical centre at the heart of the complaint declined to comment until the investigation was complete.