Doctors Repeatedly Ignored A 44-Year-Old Mom’s Pain & Extreme Bleeding. She Had Stage Four Cancer– “I Wish Someone Had Listened To My Concerns”

Mcquitty, who has a daughter named Codie, ultimately learned that her cancer was at a “late-stage” and tumors were discovered in her uterus, cervix, and bladder.

Now she’s prepping for an intensive course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy to treat the disease.

Speaking to a publication called Belfast Live, McQuitty explained, “I had been going to A&E for six months and every time I was sent home with co codamol [a narcotic used to treat mild to moderately severe pain] and doctors telling me that I just had a heavy period, when in reality I needed urgent tests and treatment carried out.

“I am just so grateful for the care that I am now receiving at the Ulster Hospital, who have been going above and beyond, but I know that I have a very tough road ahead of me with my treatment.”

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McQuitty, who is suffering from extreme pain that has left her with limited mobility, continued, “My condition has deteriorated so much that I can barely walk on my own now and need assistance to go anywhere.

“I just wish that I had been listened to in the first place.”

Belfast Live reports that McQuitty had frequently visited two different hospitals across a time-span of six months with persistent bleeding and pain, but she kept getting told her symptoms were nothing more than menorrhagia.

“Menorrhagia is heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding,” John Hopkins Medicine explains. “It can be related to a number of conditions. These include problems with the uterus, hormone problems, or other conditions. While heavy bleeding can make it tough to take part in normal daily life at times, there are treatments to help.”

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Mcquitty, who first sought medical advice at a hospital in February and claims she was only asked for one urine sample throughout her repeated hospital visits, saw her condition worsen dramatically by June.

Six months after her symptoms arose, she had difficulty walking and paralyzing pain.

It wasn’t until a relative of Mcquitty urged her to see another hospital that she learned she had late-stage cancer and tumors across her uterus, cervix, and bladder, which were still metastasizing [spreading].

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Mcquitty then endured kidney failure and sepsis as she prepped for her cancer treatment.

As Mcquitty embarks on her treatment journey, she has since created a GoFundMe for financial help to help pay for a mobility scooter and other things needed to help her move around her home.

Her GoFundMe reads, “She is about to undergo an intense course of chemotherapy and radiation five days a week together we are setting up this GoFundMe page to help get Emma a mobility scooter and other mobility aids that are needed asap for her home.

“Any money left over at the end of Emma’s treatment will be donated to McMillan cancer research. Our Family and her close friends would like to thank you for all your prayers and support so far with her already having undergone an operation on her kidneys a double nephrostomy [two nephrostomy tubes, one placed in each kidney, to drain urine] these will stay in throughout the course of her cancer treatment after which hopefully they’ll be removed.”

The GoFundMe has since raised more than $7,000 after receiving 460 generous donations.

Following Your Gut, the Value of a Second Opinion

Although we know Mcquitty has stage four cancer, it’s still unclear what specific disease she was diagnosed it. Regardless, we admire her for pushing for answers when her symptoms persisted. She just wishes the doctors had done more testing and discovered her cancer soon.

When you see a doctor for a problem, don’t hesitate to ensure that your questions are fully answered and that you are comfortable with the plan moving forward. From a doctor’s perspective, every problem should have a diagnosis, a treatment, a plan for follow-up, and a plan for what happens next if the treatment doesn’t work.

“It’s important for you to actually educate yourself and be your own health care advocate,” colorectal surgeon Dr. Zuri Murrell previously told SurvivorNet.

“You should lead each doctor’s appointment with a plan,” Dr. Murrell adds.

Stay Positive, It Matters

In addition to ensuring that you and your doctor agree about your diagnosis and potential treatment, seeking other opinions is equally important.

Doctors do not always agree about whether your symptoms merit further testing and whether specific treatment methods work best for you.

Dr. Steven Rosenberg, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute and one of America’s most renowned cancer doctors, agrees.

“If I had any advice for you following a cancer diagnosis, it would be, first, to seek out multiple opinions as to the best care because finding a doctor who is up to the latest information is important,” Rosenberg previously told SurvivorNet.

“It’s always important to get other opinions so that you can make the best decisions for yourself in consultation with your care providers,” Dr. Rosenberg continued.

Also, asking your doctor additional questions helps ease the initial shock and anxiety associated with a new diagnosis.

“I think it’s really important for them to be able to hear it multiple times and take notes,” said Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“I support second opinions. I actually think it’s really important. I mean, if you think about it in life, how do you choose someone to cut your hair? You get an opinion, right? You usually don’t just go in and sit down with the first person you see on the street and say, cut my hair. You ask around,” Dr. Yeo added.

Dr. Yeo also suggests turning to family and friends or finding a support group to help you begin your cancer journey.

The Importance of Second Opinions for Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Reasons to Consider a Second Opinion

Here are some possible reasons to get a second opinion.

• To see a doctor who has more experience treating your type of cancer
• You have a rare type of cancer
• There are several ways to treat your cancer
• You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you or isn’t giving you sound advice.
• You have trouble understanding your doctor.
• You don’t like the treatment your doctor recommends or are worried about its possible side effects.
• Your insurance company wants you to get another medical opinion
• Your cancer isn’t improving on your current treatment

Advocating for Yourself, or a Loved One

Just as being your own advocate is important when it comes to cancer care, it is just as important for parents to advocate for a loved one, or their child’s health. And by doing so, you can make sure that your doctor sees you or someone your helping as an individual in the diagnosis and treatment process.

“One of the biggest things that I did from the very beginning was asking the right questions,” Alex Echols, a patient advocate and lymphoma survivor, tells SurvivorNet. “It’s our lives on the line.”

Advocating for Yourself While Navigating the Medical World

He credits these questions with making sure that doctors took him seriously and viewed him as a partner in his treatment

Avoiding Provider Bias – Is Your Doctor Understanding You?

While your doctor has undergone years of training and practice, they are still human, and may come with their own set of biases that can impact how they treat patients.

To combat these biases and really get the most out of your interactions with your doctor, you should provide her or him with plenty of information about your life and ask plenty of questions when things aren’t clear. To better understand how you should approach conversations with your doctor, we previously spoke with Dr. Dana Chase, gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology.

According to Dr. Chase, physicians, like many of us, can be a bit biased when seeing patients. She made it clear that these biases are rarely sinister, but rather unconscious and more subtle.

She explained, “We have certain beliefs that we don’t know about. We might look, for example, at an older woman, and just by the way she looks we might make certain assumptions, and we might not even know that we’re making these assumptions.”

Let’s Talk About Provider Bias

Clearing up misconceptions is important, but so is understanding what your doctor is telling you, Dr. Chase noted. Overall, she advises women to speak up and ask questions when they don’t understand something.

“It’s never a bad thing to ask for something to be repeated, or to ask the doctors to explain it in different terms.”

So next time you go to your physician, speak up if you need clarity, so your doctor can understand you and you can understand them.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you find yourself considering seeking a second or third medical opinion, here are some questions to kickstart the conversation with your doctor:

• Is there any other testing available for the type of cancer I have?
• Are there any other treatment options available for my type of cancer?
• Why or why do you not recommend those other options?
• I want to seek a second opinion on my diagnosis and treatment options. Is there another doctor or facility you recommend?
• Do you want the second opinion to be sent to you?
• Can I have a copy of all my records to share with this second physician?

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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