Leeds mum diagnosed with stage four cancer months after screening was cancelled due to Covid

In February Toni Cunnington, aged 34, from Moortown, went to A&E at St James’ Hospital after noticing her lips had gone blue and there was swelling in the centre of her throat.

She was referred to Leeds General Infirmary, where doctors identified a cyst and an ultrasound was booked for March 23.

Unfortunately, Toni’s scan on March 23 was cancelled along with all other ‘non-emergency’ appointments as the national coronavirus lockdown began.

It wasn't until September that Toni returned to A&E with a bigger swelling and doctors caught her Stage Four Lymphoma.

She said: "It’s so unfair. A lot of cancer patients I know have suffered because Covid has caused so much stress to the NHS.”

Toni returned to A&E in September with a bigger swelling and was again referred to the ENT department.

Knowing something wasn’t right, she spoke to her personal GP who put her straight on the two week cancer pathway.

She then received a call from the original ENT doctor who cancelled her scan in March, apologising profusely.

The mum of four added: “From that point I knew I had cancer.”

She had her Lymph nodes removed and less than a week later Toni received the dreaded phone call confirming she had stage four Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Toni said: “Waiting was the worst thing because everyone around you doesn’t want it to be that but I could just tell it was cancer.

“I called every day to speak to the doctor, I wanted results, I wanted things to go quicker and a friend even offered to pay for me to go privately.

“Luckily Lymphoma is a slow growing cancer but I just had to wait."

But Toni feels like she has no right to be angry at the NHS who saved her son’s life around eight years ago after he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at just 15 months old.

She added: “My mum is a nurse and the NHS saved my son’s life so I feel like I can’t be angry.

“But the human part of me can’t help but be angry when cancer is involved and it feels like a Covid patient is more important than me.”

Toni had to wait initially to begin her chemotherapy as she was too unwell, but on November 11 she began her six months of treatment.

She will have a scan after two months to see if it's working as the cancer has also spread to her lungs and also partially paralysed her left hand.

Toni said: “When my chemo started I cheered a bit.

“I was like ‘yes it’s started’ because I honestly thought the news of the second lockdown would cancel that aswell.”

The number of people sent for urgent cancer investigations at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust has risen to pre-pandemic levels, new figures show.

But Macmillan Cancer Support said while an increase in cancer referrals nationally is welcome, more people are waiting longer to be seen – and rising coronavirus rates "risk making this worse".

NHS England data shows 3,029 people were seen by a specialist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer in September – around 1% more than in the same month last year, when 2,987 appointments were recorded.

It was also a 16% rise on the 2,611 urgent referrals in August.

Across England, 200,000 urgent cancer referrals were made in September, 4,600 more than during the same month in 2019.

Dr Phil Wood, Chief Medical Officer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, said: "“We are very sympathetic to Ms Cunnington’s situation. We are pleased she is now receiving the appropriate treatment and care, and wish her the very best. At the time of Ms Cunnington’s outpatient appointment in March, we regrettably had to make difficult decisions - like other NHS hospitals - to suspend all non-urgent appointments due to the pandemic.

“When our teams became aware of Ms Cunnington’s further symptoms, they responded quickly with a follow up plan of care.

“Since the summer, we have been able to restart the majority of routine appointments and tests alongside our urgent and emergency care and care for patients with Covid-19. We recognise that this is an anxious time for anyone with cancer, and our clinical teams are doing their best to support these patients and their families.”

On Friday Toni cut her hair off and shaved her head to donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust to give a young girl suffering with cancer the opportunity for a wig.

The money she raises in donations will go to The Candlelighters Trust which was the charity that got Toni and son Jacob through his treatment.

“They were fantastic and I love them” she said.

The JustGiving page to support Toni can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tonicunnington2020?fbclid=IwAR1L6iCZo7vnKXvxJr48SlNutKwt-6DZrCG7rHmm07vIvkDYpOs_pKXVRvc.