Oesophageal cancer rarely announces itself, producing symptoms so ordinary they can easily be mistaken for everyday wear. So by the time obvious warning signs appear, the disease has already considerably progressed.
But as a retired paediatric nurse had to discover; no symptom is ever too irrelevant to brush off completely.
Heulwen Wyatt was left with debilitating complications after putting her symptoms down to indigestion and a hiatus hernia – only to discover she had a tumour growing in her oesophagus.
The 59-year-old from South Wales has spent her career treating children with skin conditions across Gwent while building a specialist service at St Woolos Hospital in Newport.
Heulwen thought she was suffering from a hiatus hernia like her husband Rob
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HEARTBURN CANCER UK
She was looking to retire alongside her husband Rob when her mild indigestion began in September 2020, presenting with symptoms she knew all too well.
Her husband suffers from a hiatus hernia, where the upper portion of the stomach pushes through the diaphragm into the chest cavity.
And Heulwen’s symptoms, like food sticking during a meal, happened to match his experience closely.
So when her husband’s Lansoprazole appeared to ease things significantly, it reinforced her belief that nothing serious was at play.
It was only when her GP could not account for the sticking sensation that she was referred for further investigation and booked in for an endoscopy.
On the day of the procedure, she was glued to the monitor and immediately noticed something was amiss.
“It was there; I saw a big lump,” she said. Asked whether the consultant could identify the issue, she was told there was a tumour and that it was thought to be cancerous.
Heulwen doesn’t fit the profile typically associated with oesophageal cancer – having never smoked and drinking only moderately. She hadn’t lost weight or experienced fatigue, which are major symptoms of the disease.
“I wasn’t feeling unwell; I had loads of energy,” she recalled, explaining that at no point did oesophageal cancer “cross [her] mind”.
She continued: “I’m very much a ‘get on with it’ kind of person’.”
Subsequent scans showed the cancer had reached a lymph node, at which point her doctors devised a plan to do chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery.
The toll on her physique was considerable, with Heulwen losing four stone. She now lives with a crushed vertebra, osteoporosis, and reduced energy, forcing her to eat only small child-sized portions.
Heulwen now lives with a crushed vertebra
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GETTY
Follow-up scans have so far come back clear, and she has had to accept the end of her nursing career.
Heulwen is now urging anyone experiencing persistent heartburn or difficulty swallowing not to dismiss it as a normal part of ageing.
“There is no symptom that is too trivial to get checked,” she explained. “Early diagnosis saves lives.”
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