Woman, 18, died after six doctors ‘failed to spot her tumours’ on seven occasions & insisted she was ‘under the weather’

A WOMAN, 18, died after six doctors ‘failed to spot her tumours’ seven times and turned her away insisted she was ‘under the weather’.

Ruby Fuller was a happy-go-lucky 17-year-old who was full of life before she noticed some worrying symptoms.

The teenager suffered with increasing shoulder pain, fatigue and a swollen face for weeks – but after going back and forth for three months GPs told her family she was just “under the weather”.

Her shoulder pain was blamed on a heavy schoolbag and eyelid puffiness was put down to allergies – for which she was given antihistamines and steroids.

Blood tests were done, but they did not reveal anything alarming.

Her mum Emma Jones was so concerned she even asked a doctor “could it be cancer“.

But they were astonishingly laughed away and told “not in a 17-year-old, she’s far too young”.

The same dismissive response was delivered by six different doctors on seven occasions.

However, determined to find answers, Ruby and her mum kept making appointments.

Emma said: “I was getting more and more worried. I googled Ruby’s symptoms and read about lung cancer cases where a tumour pressing on a vein in the chest can cause swelling. So we went back to the GP.

“When the doctor laughed and said it couldn’t be cancer, it should have been a relief. But her symptoms carried on getting worse.”

On their eighth GP visit, a doctor finally questioned why Ruby, who had not booked an appointment for eight years, had suddenly visited eight times in three months.

He examined her thoroughly and detected a raised lymph node, and was concerned with unexplained bruising on Ruby’s abdomen.

The teen was referred for specialist testing and in July the young girl was diagnosed with stage-three acute lymphoblastic T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She had a three-and-a-half-inch tumour in her chest.

It had gone undetected for so long, it could have prevented her from breathing at any moment.

In a photograph taken just before Ruby was given her devastating diagnosis, the raised lymph node was visible on her neck.

Mum Emma said: “We now know this is a key symptom of lymphoma. And the unexplained bruising should also have been a red flag for blood cancer. Why weren’t these things picked up?”

The brave teenager then battled through chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant.

Her prognosis was looking hopeful and Ruby was discharged in March 2020.

But after six weeks, she relapsed and the cancer returned as an terminal form of leukaemia.

She passed away just three weeks later and her last days were spent surrounded by family at home, with their cats.

Her heartbreaking final words came as she spoke of a family holiday and “the best chocolate brownies” she’d ever tasted.

Ruby died in May 2020, aged 18.

Now Ruby’s parents are tirelessly campaigning to raise awareness of symptoms and speed up diagnosis time.

Emma, 54, said: “It took eight GP visits before Ruby was diagnosed. She hadn’t been to the GP for years – but as she kept getting more unwell, she kept going back to the surgery again and again.

“But she wasn’t taken seriously. She was dismissed – made to feel that she was being an over-anxious teenager and I was being an over-anxious mother.

“We will never know whether Ruby could have been saved if she had been diagnosed earlier.”

The heartbroken mother said it is “absolutely critical” that GPs take “parents’ concerns seriously”.

Ruby was passionate about protecting the environment and wanted to be remembered by the motto Live Kindly, Live Loudly.

Her family have used this as the name of a fundraiser to help support the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) in her memory.

Jeanette Hawkins, the charity’s chief nurse, added: “The speed of diagnosis for children and young people in the UK is not as good as it could be. Ruby’s case is a stark example – but sadly not unusual.

“We frequently hear from families who had to take a child to their GP more than five times with the same set of symptoms before they were diagnosed.

“What is needed is far better awareness of the symptoms of childhood cancer among both the public and healthcare professionals, including GPs.”

She added: “An individual GP may only see one child with cancer in their practice every five to ten years.

“So even when a child presents with cancer symptoms, they may not think it’s likely to be the disease.”

Ruby’s parents are campaigning to see Jess’s Law pass into legislation.

Jess’s Law would require GPs to mark a case as needing urgent review if they visit a surgery three times for the same thing.

The law is named after Jess Brady who died in December 2020 after her cancer was missed 20 times by four GPs, over six months.

The 27-year-old aerospace engineer, from Hertfordshire, had been suffering abdominal pain, coughing and vomiting.

She was only diagnosed with advanced adenocarcinoma after she visited a private doctor and died three weeks later.

An NHS spokesman said: “NHS England extends its deepest sympathies to the family of Ruby Fuller, and is working hard to ensure every child with cancer receives a prompt diagnosis and high-quality care.”