Man told he was 'too young for cancer' aged 37 ended up receiving terminal diagnosis
A widow has opened up about her husband dying of cancer just six months after doctors told him he was 'too young' to have the disease.
Five years on from his death, Anita Williams, from Gloucestershire in the UK, is still coming to terms with the loss of her husband Ben, who was just 38 when he died from small cell lung cancer in January 2021.
The father-of-three had always been 'fit and healthy,' but in 2020 he began experiencing a 'nagging' pain in one side above his hip.
Ben went to see his GP, who took him through the 'normal route' of testing blood and urine samples, but according to Anita, when doctors 'couldn't find out what was causing it,' he was told: "You're too young for cancer."
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The then-37-year-old went on to try physiotherapy, which unfortunately made no difference to his symptoms, so eventually Anita got her husband a private scan using health insurance via her employer.
"They said they could see something on his liver, but they didn’t think it was anything to worry about," she said. "We didn’t really think anything of it. We just thought, ‘Oh, well, at least we’re going to know what’s going on’."
Ben was then invited for a CT scan, which revealed something in his lung, prompting medics to bring him back for a second CT scan in January 2021.
This follow-up scan revealed masses on his lung and liver, and after a biopsy, Ben received the devastating news he had small cell lung cancer, which he and Anita had 'never heard of'.
Anita recalled: "I remember sitting down and I said, ‘What stage is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s stage four because we’ve found it in his liver and his adrenal glands.'
"Then he said, 'I’m really sorry, but it’s terminal. There’s nothing we can do to treat this’, and I just screamed. Ben was holding me and I was wailing."
Although the 43-year-old police officer can't remember much after this day, she does recall having to tell their three children, Kieran, now 22, and their daughters Ella, 19, and Emilie, seven, which she says was 'absolutely horrific'.
She added: "I just thought, ‘This can’t be happening to us. You’ve got to do something. Surely, you’ve got to save him’."
Ben quickly started chemotherapy, which helped with the pain, but by June he started to deteriorate. In August, the couple, who had been together since meeting aged 19, renewed their wedding vows.
The avid Manchester United fan went on to lose his ability to walk, urinate, speak and swallow, so was moved to Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice, where he was diagnosed with another form of cancer called leptomeningeal cancer.
This meant his cancer cells had spread to the thin tissue layers covering the brain and spinal cord.
"It shut down his central nervous system from the inside, bit by bit, and those last four weeks were horrific," Anita said. "It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever had to watch somebody so big and strong go through."
Four weeks after moving into the hospice and six months after his diagnosis, Ben died in July 2021 with Anita by his side.
Reflecting on the grief she has experienced following Ben's death, Anita likened the weight of it to 'wearing a 20-kilo backpack' everyday, and while it will always be a part of who she is, as she 'gets stronger and stronger as time goes on.'
Emma Rosemurgey