A mum was given just three months to live after a doctor misdiagnosed her cancer as the menopause before being told she is now in remission.
Caroline Guy was left heartbroken after being diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer which had spread to her liver and ovaries in January 2020.
Doctors gave the 56-year-old the devastating prognosis that the cancer was terminal and that she only had around three or four months to live.
But Caroline refused to give up hope and continued to undergo gruelling rounds of chemotherapy at Nottingham University Hospitals to shrink the tumours.
Six weeks ago she went under the knife for extensive surgery at the city's Queen's Medical Centre where she had a full hysterectomy and part of her bowel removed.
Following further tests Caroline was left gobsmacked to be told she is now cancer free, which she has described as "a miracle".
The mum-of-two previously had her tell-tale symptoms of a swollen stomach dismissed in 2019 by a GP who told her it was probably down to the menopause.
She even Googled her symptoms and asked the doctor outright if it was bowel cancer to which he replied it wasn't and sent her on her way.
In January 2020, Caroline visited her husband Adam in Saudi Arabia where she woke up one night in agony.
She said: “I was in pain walking, I looked seven months pregnant, and I woke up one night and was violently sick. I just felt horrendous.”
Caroline was rushed into hospital in Saudi Arabia and within four days she’d had x-rays, scans, MRI and blood tests.
A consultant brought her husband and youngest daughter Gabrielle into see her where they delivered the tragic news.
Caroline added: “When I saw their faces I thought this is not good.
"My daughter couldn’t look at me. I couldn’t take it in. I just said ‘How long have I had it? And ‘am I going to die?’”
The surgeon had told her husband it was "very bad", adding: “You’re looking at three to four months."
She added: “They didn’t tell me that at the time. He was still picking our daughter up off the floor – they had to give her oxygen.
"I can laugh now but it must’ve been like something from a Carry On film.”
At the end of January, Caroline was referred to the head of oncology who told her to stay positive and to "steer clear of Google ".
She was classed as inoperable and incurable, and started a course of chemotherapy and targeted drug Cituximae.
Caroline returned to the UK in September to see her daughter, Hollie, in Nottingham – and immediately caught Covid and had to isolate.
She registered at Nottingham's City Hospital, where scans showed the tumour had reduced in size and she now had more like two years to live.
She added: “I was heartbroken, I didn’t want to hear a timescale, I was doing really well."
She continued with Cituximae and fortnightly chemo then had a pump fitted which allowed for the treatment to be administered every 48 hours.
The mum said: “It’s been a long hard process, but I have never had my treatment stopped. And the staff were absolutely marvellous – they were under tremendous pressure."
Caroline said nurses would often stay hours after their shifts to monitor the machines.
Eventually, scans shows the tumours had shrunk enough to allow for surgery.
Caroline was transferred to the Queen’s Medical Centre and met surgeons Alastair Simpson and David Humes, who she nicknamed Ant and Dec.
They removed part of her bowel and performed a full hysterectomy - and then following a histology and other tests they confirmed she was in remission.
She added: “The surgeon looked at me and said you’ve got no cancer. I said ‘are you sure? I just couldn’t believe it. It’s a miracle."
The cost of treatment in Saudi Arabia cost £110,000 - her husband's retirement fund.
Caroline will be in remission for five years and will be monitored every three months by her oncologist.
Husband Adam is now is returning to England at the end of the year and the couple plan to buy a house in Nottingham to be near daughters Hollie and Gabrielle.
Caroline said: “The last two and a half years has been the strangest time, a time to re-evaluate. It’s made me a stronger person, stronger than I thought I could be."
Referring to the NHS staff who gave her treatment, she added: "I owe them everything."
