Cancer sufferer told she's 'just homesick'
A teenage girl with a brain tumour the size of a golf ball was repeatedly turned away by doctors who told her she was just homesick.
Megan Thomson, 20, had just begun a course at Leeds Metropolitan University when she presented herself to doctors complaining of headaches and trouble walking.
Megan symptoms worsened as she was repeatedly told by doctors she was homesick, stressed or partying too hard.
"I began to get the most horrendous headaches and I couldn't walk properly. It was then that I knew something was desperately wrong", she said.
"I couldn't cut my food up and I couldn't even hold a glass of water in my hand. Every time I went to the doctors they... just dismissed it and said I was homesick.'
Finally doctors took Megan's claims seriously and she was sent for a scan.
"It was December 16 when I had a scan and two days later I was having an operation to remove the tumour", she said.
Side effects from Megan's treatment mean she required a hip replacement, and she's now fighting to get healthy enough to drive a car again.
Megan plans to begin an oncology course later this year so she can help cancer patients just like the 'inspirational' nurses who have helped her.
25 per cent of young cancer patients go through ordeals similar to Megan's, A UK charity has revealed.
The most common symptoms of cancer in young people are unexplained and persistent pain, a lump, swelling, tiredness, unexplained weight loss or changes in a mole.
