A father who spent around 200 hours in Accident and Emergency with a 'stomach ulcer' has died after it turned out to be terminal cancer. Dad-of-two Danny Johnston died on February 17 - a month after his family said he was told he actually had cancer.
They said the 47-year-old had several times to the hospital with symptoms including vomiting blood on multiple occasions from August 2022. Wife Charlene, 37, from Chester, said they were only told he had cancer by an agency nurse in A&E on January 14.
But she was told the cancer was apparently listed on Danny's medical records back in November 2022. She said that to add to her distress, she was then unable to say anything about the cancer diagnosis to Danny, a drainage engineer with his own business in Chester, CheshireLive reports. Doctors broke the news to him the following day.
She said: "He went in for a scan on January 14 and then as he was coming out he collapsed and at that point was really unwell. We went over to A&E as Danny said he wanted to go on a drip and get anti-sickness medication and go home. That was the plan.
"A nurse said 'don't let him go' and when I asked why she said 'do you not know?' and she asked me what I thought it was and I answered that it was an ulcer in his duodenum and that he was waiting for a procedure or op and her eyes started to well up. She said 'you need to know something. He's got cancer'.
"She said she had had a look at his records and he had a scan in November and they suspected he had cancer, with a biopsy confirming this and the scan he was in for that day was a staging scan. No one had told us any of this.
"The nurse then said 'you need to know as you need to make plans'. I felt sick then, knowing this and not being able to tell him. He saw a doctor that evening but they still didn't tell him. The following day, doctors came and told us it was cancer.
"They confirmed the biopsy results but they did not know what stage it was. They just said it was stomach cancer. We had to wait two or three weeks to find out exactly what it was. The scan wasn't read off in time for the weekly multi disciplinary team meeting and so we had to wait another week.
"They explained it was cancer and quite advanced. He was meant to go to the Christie for chemo but we didn't get there because by this point he was just so unwell. He passed away on 17 February."
Danny had a form of stomach cancer called Linitis Plastica which can make the stomach rigid, which had spread to his peritoneum and blocked his duodenum. This all came after Charlene said Danny had had an endoscopy appointment on November 30 which found no evidence of cancer.
Charlene said she was concerned that for the last four months or so of Danny's life he had suffered from continuous vomiting, including vomiting blood, with his condition deteriorating up until his death at the Hospice of the Good Shepherd on February 17. She said by November alone he had spent around 130 hours in A&E.
Charlene told CheshireLive that Danny had been in and out of the Countess of Chester Hospital since around August 22, 2022, when he underwent a procedure to treat what they were told was a burst stomach ulcer. He had first felt unwell around April 2022 and had gone to his GP in May, initially being treated with indigestion tablets.
He diagnosed with a perforated stomach which was thought to be an ulcer. From August onwards, Charlene said Danny was in either A&E or the surgical assessment unit at the Countess every week and by January he had deteriorated to such a point that he had lost around 3.5-4 stone in weight.
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She said that during his stays at the hospital there were multiple incidents which concerned her and Danny, including waiting over 24 hours for a drip and showing signs of kidney failure. She said there had also been delays in fitting a picc line to feed him due to no one being available to do it over a weekend.
She is now seeking answers from the hospital, including why the cancer hadn't been picked up initially and why something couldn't be done to help Danny when he was suffering during his final months. She said she was concerned that delays could have resulted from his consultant being on leave and then off sick for the whole of December, with no one else seemingly asked to take over Danny's care.
Charlene, who is an operations manager for a pharmaceutical company, said: "Danny was treated for a gastric ulcer when it was cancer. By January he had lost about 3.5-4 stone which worked out about a stone a month. He was just skin and bone as he'd lost so much weight.
"We knew something wasn't right but they just kept saying it was an ulcer in his duodenum and this was the reason he kept vomiting and losing weight. At one point I rang his consultant to say I was concerned that Danny was projectile vomiting blood and should I bring him in. They said it was absolutely fine and nothing to worry about.
"The cancer he had was hard to detect but he actually never had any procedures so would have died of malnutrition anyway, even if the cancer was not detected. He was in the Countess for around 10 to 12 weeks.
"They could have done any test they wanted but they left him to suffer. He was failing to thrive and still received no treatment.
"If he had been well and able to eat and digest food then we probably wouldn't have found out he had cancer until February 14. It was only that nurse in A&E who went out of her way to tell us and she was an agency nurse."
Danny and Charlene had been married for 19 years. He leaves two sons, Kyle, 25, from a former relationship and Harley, 16, who he shared with Charlene.
Speaking about their loss, Charlene said: "It's just such a shock. You don't expect this at the age of 37. It's hard to deal with.
"I suppose it's still sinking in. He was only told he had cancer on January 15 and he passed away a month later on February 17. We are so glad that our family are being so supportive."
Charlene added: "I don't think he accepted that it was terminal. He thought that he would have at least another 10 years. He wanted his chance at chemo. If he'd had the chance to have it and it hadn't worked then I think he would have processed it.
"I looked up about this particular cancer and knew the prognosis wasn't good. For him, it was really important to clear the blockage so he could eat and then be able to attend his chemo appointment. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.
"Even on the day before he died he was asking me to ring up about it and to put it in for that Monday. We'd gone private to and had got an appointment at Christie's on the Monday.
"He couldn't make the first appointment as he was too ill so we rescheduled it for the following week. I know he was too unwell but in his head that's what he was aiming for.
She paid tribute to Danny, saying he was well known in Chester and that those who knew him would describe him as "the life and soul of the party".
"We were opposites. I'm really quiet and don't want attention whereas he would crave it," she added. "He was a real family man and would always help others and get involved in things in the community."
A spokesperson for the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We know that the patient’s family have concerns about the care we provided and our communication with them. We are sorry that this has been their experience and that our services have not lived up to the high standards that we set for ourselves.
"We are actively investigating their complaint and we will remain in contact with the family so that we can address their concerns directly with them.”
