A dad-of-two who spent around 200 hours in total in A&E with a suspected stomach ulcer has died after it turned out to be terminal cancer.
Danny Johnston, 47, tragically passed away last month, just weeks after his family were told he had cancer. They say Danny had been going in and out of hospital with severe symptoms such as vomiting blood from August 2022 and dropped more than three stone in weight.
Danny, from Hoole in Chester, was only told he had cancer by an agency nurse in A&E after he fell ill after a scan on January 14. His wife, Charlene, 37, has been left shocked to hear that cancer was apparently listed on his medical records in November 2022.
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As Cheshire Live reports, she was unable to say anything about the cancer after being told by a nurse, and instead had to wait until they broke the news 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'."
Charlene added: "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."
Charlene added that Danny had been diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer called Linitis Plastica which can make the stomach rigid, and on January 24, they were informed it was terminal and had spread.
The crushing blow came after a positive endoscopy appointment on November 30 which found no evidence of cancer, with the couple over the moon and celebrating the news.
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.
Charlene said he was 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.
Charlene is now looking for answers from the hospital about why the cancer wasn't picked up initially and why nothing could be done to help her husband when he was suffering during his final months.
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."
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."
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