33-year-old Kaley Fitzsimmons has issued an appeal after doctors blamed the symptoms of her cancer on ‘over-exercising’ after giving birth. Ms Fitzsimmons gave birth to her daughter in April of last year, after years of thinking she would be unable to have a baby due to kidney failure. She finally underwent a successful kidney transplant at the age of 15. Ms Fitzsimmons said: “I had always wanted to be a mother and was grateful that my transplant had made that possible. We were over the moon.”

Ms Fitzsimmons, a fitness instructor, had returned to work for three months after giving birth to her daughter Gracie when she started complaining of hip pain. After visiting her GP, she was sent home with a diagnosis of over-exercise. When the pain worsened, she arranged a physiotherapy session for the muscle strain, but when this didn’t help, she was finally referred for a scan. The scan revealed a mass growth.

Given days to live

Despite intense chemotherapy and a full leg amputation in May, the cancer spread, reaching her lungs. She was given days to live by doctors. Ms Fitzsimmons said that her GP’s misdiagnosis allowed the cancer to spread for seven months, which could have easily been prevented.

Ms Fitzsimmons has pleaded for more to be done for mothers complaining of pain, asking doctors not just to jump to the conclusion of post-natal symptoms.  She said: “If I had been diagnosed earlier perhaps my treatment would have been a success and my family would not be going through this now.”

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