ICU nurse, 33, claims her lung cancer was misdiagnosed as long Covid
ICU nurse, 33, in remission from breast cancer was ‘told her shortness of breath was long Covid despite never testing positive for the virus’ – only to learn it was lung cancer
Brogan Williams, 33, Wolverhampton, diagnosed with lung metastasis this yearThe nurse was in remission from breast cancer when she noticed symptomsShe was diagnosed with Covid Lung, a symptom associated with Long Covid
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An intensive care nurse claimed that her lung cancer was misdiagnosed as long Covid – despite never testing positive for the virus.
Brogan Williams, 33, from Wolverhampton, was in remission from breast cancer when she started noticing back pain and shortness of breath in October 2020, but was unable to make a face-to-face appointment due to the pandemic.
After going to A&E with chest pains, the mother-of-one was diagnosed with Covid Lung, a symptom associated with Long Covid. It wasn’t until the end of June this year Brogan was sent for scan and biopsy, when her oncologist discovered a lump in her neck.
In July, a CT scan showed cancer and fluid on her lungs, and the nurse now believes that the lack of in-person appointments are to blame for doctors not catching the disease sooner.
Brogan Williams, 33, from Wolverhampton, was in remission from breast cancer when she started noticing back pain and shortness of breath in October 2020. She is pictured with daughter Freya
After going to A&E with chest pains, the mother-of-one was diagnosed with Covid Lung, a symptom associated with Long Covid. It wasn’t until the end of June this year Brogan was sent for scan and biopsy, when her oncologist discovered a lump in her neck
When she tried to seek help initially, doctors were dismissive of her, saying: ‘I felt like they were telling me to stop being silly and to just get on with it.’
‘The last three weeks have been pretty rough. I’ve been in remission since October last year but have been going back to GPs and oncologists with pains in my chest, but they told me that I was too young for the cancer to have come back.’
Brogan’s cancer journey began aged 30, when her husband noticed that her nipple was inverted. The pair were trying for a baby and thought it may be a sign of pregnancy.
When Brogan’s period came, she decided to get the inverted nipple checked out by her GP.
In July, a CT scan showed cancer and fluid on her lungs, and the nurse now believes that the lack of in-person appointments are to blame for doctors not catching the disease sooner. She is pictured with daughter Freya and husband Gareth
Two weeks later, in January 2019, Brogan was diagnosed with stage three grade 3 Her2 positive invasive breast cancer with confirmed lymph nodes spread.
‘You don’t expect it’, she said. ‘I’d just turned 30 so was planning for the next 30 years. I couldn’t get rid of a cold but thought it was something I’d picked up from work.
‘Over Christmas 2018 my husband said: ‘What’s happened to your nipple?’ and I thought I must be pregnant. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the case and it was the big C’ instead.’
The mother underwent six rounds of intense chemotherapy with two admissions for neutropenia sepsis before having an anaphylaxis reaction to her final round of chemo.
Brogan had a mastectomy on her left breast with temporary reconstruction – which would send her back into surgery 24 hours for an operation to remove a hematoma.
She then had to undergo 15 rounds of radiotherapy, suffering with skin burns, soreness, huge fatigue and chest infections as a result of her treatment.
When all active treatment was over, Brogan had to continue chemotherapy once again – but on her 11th cycle she was told her heart was failing.
Brogan was forced to temporarily stop treatment while taking heart medication to help strengthen her left ventricle.
In March 2019, Brogan underwent a DIEP reconstruction with right mastectomy, which, because of the stress of the operation, caused her heart to fail once again.
Her heart stabilised with the help of medication, but facing severe breathlessness and a new breast infection, the mother’s recovery was slower than planned.
In October 2020 Brogan was in remission, but during the pandemic complained to GPs and oncologists about pains in her chest.
In February this year, the mother had an MRI of her spine, which came back clear.
‘But actually, if they’d done a scan of my chest, they would have seen that there was cancer in my lungs at that point’, she said.
‘Now it’s in both lungs and is very advanced. It’s in my neck and I have two spots on my liver which they can’t rule out as cancer too.’
‘Now it’s in both lungs and is very advanced. It’s in my neck and I have two spots on my liver which they can’t rule out as cancer too.’
The mother went to A&E with chest pains on July 18th and claims doctors told her to go home and rest.
Brogan said: ‘I was at home with my daughter and could barely walk up the stairs
‘By the next week, I was walking up the stairs and it was like someone had punched me in the back and knocked me off my feet.
‘My daughter almost rang 999 because it was only me and her at home. I said to myself: ‘Come on Brogan, pull yourself together, it’s just Covid lung’.’
Brogan had been to see her oncologist at the end of June who discovered a lump in her neck and sent her for an urgent scan and biopsy.
A CT scan done on July 18th showed cancer and fluid on her lungs, but Brogan said no one told her until she presented again in A&E on July 27.
‘I’ve completely been missed at every opportunity’, said Brogan. ‘There’s a whole persona in the medical community that you’re too young to have secondary cancer.
‘Now they’ve left me for as long as they have done, I’ve got the lungs that I have. They told me that it was palliative and there was nothing they could do when I was on my own in A&E.
‘I’m a bit of a stubborn bugger though so I won’t let them tell me anything.’
Brogan’s pain was initially put down to the radiotherapy she had undergone to battle breast cancer. She is now waiting for test results to find out exactly what type of cancer she has but says she’s a ‘ticking time bomb’ without treatment.
‘They never give you a scan to give you the all-clear because it’s too much radiation so they never actually confirm that you’re cancer-free’, she said.
‘I’m now waiting for test results to find out exactly what type of cancer it is. I’m a ticking time-bomb. They’ve filled the outside of my lungs with talcum powder to try and stop them from filling up.
‘The cancer will keep pushing the fluid out and stopping me from breathing until it will eventually completely stop my lungs.
‘It’s a case now of waiting to see what I can have a treatment which will be the only chance I’ve got.
‘Without treatment, it literally will just kill me.’
Brogan said her family had helped to keep her going. Her mum Lorraine, 56, is her full-time carer as Gareth works away most days as an HGV driver.
‘I am so lucky, I feel like I’ve won the lottery with the family I’ve got’, she said. ‘My daughter is struggling and has been sleeping in the bedroom with us.
‘We’re just trying to keep it as normal as possible and trying to divert our mind from what the prognosis is and think of what it could be.
‘When I’m happy, I’m healing because we regenerate good cells so I’m trying not to be in that fight mode. I just need to be happy, and if she can see me happy then that’s all that matters.’
Brogan wants to raise awareness for the type of cancer she has which is classed as metastatic breast cancer even though it is in her lungs.
The mum has now begun writing letters to her five-year-old daughter, Freya, to read at pivotal moments in her life.
‘I’m writing letters for her which people may see as a sign of giving up but it’s me taking control’, she said.
‘I always want her to know exactly what I’d say to her in certain situations like her first period or the first time she meets a boy and gets those butterflies. It sends your head a bit mental though because you start to accept it.’
Brogan’s loved ones have started a GoFundMe page for the mother to take her daughter and her husband on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland Florida.
Gwen Nuttall, chief operating officer at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said: ‘A patient would only be admitted from A&E should there be a clinical reason at that point for them needing to be so. In many cases, further investigations are carried out as an outpatient.
‘We are sorry that Brogan feels she didn’t receive the care she would have expected, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with her in more detail. Our patient experience team will be making contact with her.’
