'Tumour in my chest was size of a rugby ball'

NICK Jones was a student on placement when a tumour the size of a rugby ball grew in his chest cavity and “wrapped around” his heart.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education Editor

To make matters worse, it was 2021 and the height of a Covid lockdown. The 22-year-old, from Caerphilly, struggled to get a GP appointment and was at first told his breathlessness symptoms were caused by low iron.

Nick, who waited more than two months for a diagnosis even after seeing a GP, thinks his early cancer symptoms were not taken seriously because he was young. Along with the Teenage Cancer Trust, he is now calling for a better cancer strategy for Wales.

Nick was on a medical science undergraduate work placement in a London hospital when he began feeling breathless and tired. He was also losing weight.

Normally fit, the former Bedwas High pupil knew this was unusual but, like many students, had not signed on with a GP when he left home for university.

“My manager at the hospital said I didn’t look well. I tried to get a GP appointment but it was lockdown in 2021 and as a student I had not yet signed on with a GP in London,” said Nick. “I couldn’t get an appointment so in the end I came home to Caerphilly to see my GP.

“One thing which is now known to be linked is that I was also having excessive night sweats.”

Back in Wales, Nick once again had to battle for a face-to-face GP appointment.

“It took me weeks to see a GP. I had two phone GP appointments and then in the third they said, ‘Come in’ and then they took bloods. It all took about two and a half months to diagnosis.

“The GP told me I had anaemia and gave me iron, which we know now ‘fed’ the tumour. I was on those for a week and then blood tests came back showing it was something worse.”

Once Nick’s blood test results were in, the NHS swung into action. He was sent to the rapid access clinic at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) where medics referred him the same day to the Royal Gwent Hospital chest clinic. Within hours he was admitted to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran.