A nurse and mother of two has just months to live after clumsy medics dismissed her cancer symptoms as side effects of the Covid vaccine.
Katie Pritchard, 37, is hoping to fund £200,000 for life-extending drugs not available on the NHS after doctors twice misdiagnosed her cervical cancer.
The nurse manager, from Tysoe in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, went to her GP, Shipston Medical Center last January after finding a lump.
But a nurse told her there was “nothing wrong” and that her symptoms could possibly be due to the Pfizer vaccine – or even a sexually transmitted infection (STD).
Miss Pritchard was finally diagnosed with cervical cancer last February. But then she had to wait three months before starting treatment, which she says caused her cancer to spread to her lymph nodes.
Despite a grueling six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and being declared cancer-free last summer, it returned in late 2022.
The doctors have now given Miss Pritchard only a few months to live. She is hoping for an immunotherapy drug so she can spend more time with her future husband, Tom Cronin, and their children, Percy (4) and Cass (2).
Katie Pritchard (pictured with her son Cass after treatment last summer), 37, has to fund £200,000 of private treatment after being misdiagnosed twice before finding out she had cervical cancer
The nurse manager (pictured with partner Tom Cronin), who is mum to sons Percy, four, and Cass, two, went to her GP after finding a lump
But Miss Pritchard (pictured with her son Cass before her cancer) was told “there is nothing wrong” and her symptoms could have been linked to the Pfizer vaccine
After getting a second opinion at her GP appointment last January, doctors also suggested that her lump could be a prolapsed bladder from birth or an STD.
Miss Pritchard said she was offended by the latest proposal – because she had been with her partner for 17 years.
Medical specialists did not explain why they thought her symptoms were due to the Covid vaccination, but vaccines can cause temporarily swollen lymph nodes, experts say.
Miss Pritchard, who works at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, was unhappy with the way medics handled her case and referred herself for an appointment with a gynecologist at the Stratford Sexual Health Clinic last February.
She was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Every year more than 3,000 people in the UK and almost 14,000 in the US are diagnosed with cervical cancer. It kills 850 people in the UK and over 4,000 in the US each year.
Miss Pritchard said: “After examining me he asked if I had come to the appointment alone and from that moment I knew what he was going to say – I knew it was cancer.
READ MORE: From back pain to constipation: clear symptoms of cervical cancer REVEALED
“I work in health care myself, so I knew it was more than a bladder infection or an STD.”
Her gynecologist was “surprised” that the nurse specialist had not picked up the cancer and called her GP’s office to say he was “very angry” at Miss Pritchard’s misdiagnosis.
But Miss Pritchard, who plays rugby, was then “walked over” for two and a half months before her treatment began – by which time the cancer had spread.
Frustrated with the wait for treatment at Coventry Hospital, she referred herself to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, where she worked, last April.
Miss Pritchard began five weeks of grueling radiation therapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy this month.
She was sick almost every day, lost two stone, had to be admitted to hospital several times for intravenous infusions and received two blood transfusions.
However, in June she was relieved when doctors confirmed the cancer was gone.
Miss Pritchard enjoyed a family wedding and even returned to rugby for Stratford RFC.
But a routine checkup in September revealed a small spot on her lungs.
Miss Pritchard was suffering from a chest infection and doctors thought the infection showed up on her scan, which it did after a biopsy was carried out.
She said: “It was only when I started having severe pain in my shoulder that they decided to investigate further.
“By this point, the growths in my lungs that were thought to be an infection had grown significantly.”
Miss Pritchard, who works at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxon, was unhappy with her treatment and made an appointment to see a gynecologist last February.
Earlier this year Miss Pritchard (pictured with Mr Cronin and her sons Cass and Percy) was diagnosed with lung, shoulder, spine and pelvic cancer and began palliative chemotherapy three weeks ago.
Miss Pritchard (pictured with her former rugby team Stratford RFC) will now tie the knot with her long-term partner Tom Cronin (35) on Monday in an emotional ceremony before a reception at the Royal Oak pub, where they were close as teenagers life worked.
After undergoing more scans, she received heartbreaking news in December that she had cancer again. Doctors told her she only had months to live.
Earlier this year, Miss Pritchard was diagnosed with lung, shoulder, spine and pelvic cancer and began palliative chemotherapy three weeks ago.
She will now tie the knot with her long-term partner, Mr Cronin, 35, in a ceremony on Monday before a reception at the Royal Oak pub – where they worked as teenagers.
The couple are also trying to raise money to fund treatment with a potentially life-extending drug not available on the NHS, so they can spend more time together as a family.
The drug, called pembrolizumab, which is sold under the brand name Keytruda and stimulates the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells, costs a staggering £6,000 every three weeks
READ MORE: New mum, 33, dies of stage 4 brain cancer just 6 months after NHS doctors claimed herpes was to blame for her ‘baby brain’.
Mr. Cronin, a teacher, said the couple created a to-do list that included sorting out a will and making “worst-case scenario” videos for their sons.
Last week, he set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for pembrolizumab to use with her ongoing treatment.
The fundraising site has raised over £107,000 in donations so far.
Miss Pritchard said: ‘I will continue to do it (palliative care) as long as my body can take it or as long as I live.
“I am overwhelmed by the support and donations we have received. I am so excited to marry Tom and it has been a long time.
Faced with her illness, she encouraged people to take on an adventure and “live for now, not the future.”
“I can’t thank my wonderful family and my wonderful Tom enough for everything they’ve done,” she added.
Mr Cronin suggested at The Royal Oak on the day Mrs Pritchard received that she had just a few months to live.
He said: “It was a terrible time. It feels like the whole last year has been waiting, it’s extremely frustrating.
“Waiting for treatment, waiting for results, waiting for something else. At the end of each wait, there was inevitably the worst possible news.
“We are realistic and positive at the same time. It’s a strange balance.’
Shipston Medical Centre, where Katie says she was misdiagnosed, said they could not comment on individual cases.
A spokesman for the practice said: “We cannot comment on an individual’s care and treatment, but we encourage Ms Pritchard to get in touch with us so that we can investigate her concerns.”
Click here to donate to Miss Pritchard’s treatment.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
