A mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer after waking up looking “pregnant”.
Widnes’ Linsey Farrington began suffering from chest pains in April last year and described the pain as “horrible.” The 37-year-old man was diagnosed with pleurisy by doctors, which is an inflammation of the sheet-like layer that covers the lungs.
The mother of two was treated for this with medication and had various tests and examinations on her lungs which became clear. Linsey said the pain did not go away, despite taking strong medications and that it would pass “through a bottle of Gaviscon a day.”
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After numerous blood tests and scans, Linsey became very ill over the Easter weekend. She said her stomach was swollen during the night, that she was “humotic” and that she looked pregnant.
Speaking to ECHO, Linsey said: “I couldn’t move, I couldn’t walk, I was just vomiting. It turned blue. I woke up and it was huge. I went to A&E and they told me there was a Wait nine hours at A&E and they told us “we’ll send you an emergency scan in three weeks”.
Linsey Farrington with children Lily, 12, and Harvey, 15 (Image: Linsey Farrington)
“So obviously I came home because they told me we’d just wait. Then on Easter Monday I went back in and said I didn’t move and I couldn’t stand that pain.
“They scanned me and found all this fluid in my stomach. They did a CT scan and said they were thinking of finding cancer cells in my stomach, which is my abdominal wall, so they then operated on me to remove the liquid.
“They took 12 liters of fluid out of my stomach and then they did a biopsy on me and from then on it was a five-week whirlwind. The fluid builded up again and I had to have another operation and They drained 10 liters, then they installed me, a permanent drain that was horrible, and then I lost two or three more liters.
“But the fluid is cancer, so it’s spreading. So that fluid is what causes it to spread.” After that, Linsey said doctors thought he had different forms of cancer, such as ovarian mesothelioma, which occurs in coating that covers the outer surface of some organs – and secondary cancer in its omentum and bones.
He said he was told by doctors he could not find the primary cancer and told him “he could be weeks old”. However, doctors eventually diagnosed the mother of two children with stage four metastatic stomach cancer that has spread to the omentum and spine.
The 37-year-old man added: “I was found to have a primary in my stomach, but I was told that it was very rare as it presented itself. That is why no blood test or anything is being collected because it is in the tissue of the stomach. ‘stomach. “
Doctors told Linsey to be prepared for less than 12 months to live and have been offered palliative care in the form of a round of chemotherapy. After researching, Linsey and her family now hope to find alternative treatments that can help lengthen Linsey’s prognosis.
The 37-year-old woman said telling her children Harvey, 15, and Lily, 12, “was the worst thing” she has ever done. But since his diagnosis, he’s been trying to live his best life, including going to Disney and making “every moment count.”
She said, “Because I feel so good, this mindset while I feel good is that we’re doing everything we can and making as many memories as we can reasonably. I’ve planned my whole life with them and telling them I won’t go. Being there is horrible.
“I can’t even think about it, but we just have to do everything we can do now while I feel good and I don’t know how long I’ll feel good, so I have to do everything while I feel good and do everything I can with them. “
Linsey said she is “desperate for more time” with her children and hopes alternative treatment will help her. A GoFundMe page has now been set up to raise money for this and a Facebook page for fundraising events.
To make a donation to the GoFundMe page, click here. To join the Facebook page for fundraising events, click here.
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