Lindsay Richards

Lindsay now has inoperable ovarian cancer, because it was misdiagnosed repeatedly by local GPs

After local NHS services said that they couldn’t refer Lindsay’s case to specialist cancer hospital the Royal Marsden in London, STAND FOR intervened and having obtained an initial consultation with the “London Clinic,” oncology team, then got a referral to Mr Desmond Barton at the Marsden, a world renowned surgeon, who specialises in complex gynaecological cancer, which in fact, was the origin of Lindsay’s illness.

The first positive from our actions was the re stimulation of, “hope,” that there were courses of action that could help Lindsay. In such situations, hope and opportunity for further input can have a remarkable effect on people’s determination to continue fighting and the wider family member’s psyche, who of course are a key support mechanism. There were discussions and investigations around clinical trials across the world which might be of value, which had never been offered before and a full review by two separate oncology teams, of all of Lindsay’s medical notes and scans, of which there were a lot! Sadly, in spite of this new and extensive input, the disease was too progressed for further options because of previous misdiagnoses.

I and my family finally felt listened to and could see that the newly involved specialists were dealing with my case in an open minded and consultative style, which made it feel like the actions taken were happening, “with us,” not, “to us.” In such desperate circumstances, we needed the doctors to do what they said they would do and in a timely manner, because such behaviours told us we were being listened to personally and not simply an NHS Number! In turn, that produced options and further hope, which were so important to our fight against this awful disease. STAND FOR enabled everything we describe here and stepped up when all of our local clinicians had stepped back, so for us, it was random kindness and support that we never expected!