A WOMAN whose back pain was misdiagnosed as sciatica died from bone cancer less than a year after a tumour was found in her pelvis.
"Athletic" Kate Drummond, 25, was "fit and healthy" when in 2020 she began to experience bad back pain.
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She initially put this down to "poor posture" or working out too much, according to her 33-year-old sister Kelly Drummond.
After the pain radiated to her hip, Kate was diagnosed with "probable sciatica" after visiting the A&E department of her local hospital in Devon in May 2021.
Kelly said it was noted she was "one of the youngest patients (doctors) had ever seen" with the condition.
After going on to seek an MRI scan through private care, Kate was given the "life-altering" news she had a "grapefruit-sized" tumour in her pelvis in August 2021.
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She underwent treatment for several months but deteriorated "rapidly" in January 2022 as the disease quickly spread to "almost every part of her body", including her lungs, liver and other bones.
Kate died in March 2022 in hospital and her sister Kelly is sharing her story for the first time to urge others to "listen to your body" and "advocate for yourself".
"We'd be silly to not assume that things could have been slightly different had she been diagnosed sooner," Kelly, a personal trainer from Devon, told PA Real Life.
"When Kate's tumour was found it was large, they described it as grapefruit-sized and it was suggested she may have had cancer in her body for up to two years.
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"What started as some lower back pain turned into cancer within a matter of days, which then turned into multiple cancerous tumours in almost every part of her body – the rapid progression was shocking.
"Kate's story shows just how unpredictable cancer is and clearly, early diagnosis has been shown time and time again to save lives."
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Kelly said Kate, who worked in customer care for a local company, first noticed something "wasn't quite right" in the late summer of 2020 when she developed "intermittent" lower back pain.
"She put this down to working from home, it was the Covid pandemic, and she thought this was due to poor posture or a slightly uncomfortable working set-up," Kelly said.
"By January 2021, the pain was more persistent and she had some new pain radiating into her hip as well."
Kelly said she and her family members are still struggling to process the loss.
"Don't wait, and laugh more, I think she would say."
Kate's family and friends continue to honour her in their day-to-day lives by aiming to live for the moment and be more present.
"Kate was the most kind and considerate person and people were just generally drawn to her, she was really warm," Kelly said.
"She had really good wit and she was just hilarious – she had this amazingly infectious laugh.
"We all say her laugh is what we miss most about her."
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April marks Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Awareness Month for the Bone Cancer Research Trust, the UK's leading charity for primary bone cancer.
To find out more, visit their website here:bcrt.org.uk
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