Diagnosis default...

Press, 25 August 1988, Page 2

Diagnosis default...

NZPA-PA London A mother of four who went on a “final” holiday after being told she had. only months to live has now learned she has not got cancer. Mrs Kathleen Matthews, aged 45, of Cosham, Hampshire, was told last December she had cancer of the pancreas and was dying. She and her husband told their children, then set about raising £3OOO ($7980) for a “final” holiday in Australia by borrowing and holding car-boot sales. When Mrs Matthews reached Australia she fell ill and went for a scan which doctors said showed that the growth on the pancreas was not cancerous.

“It was lucky I did become ill because otherwise I would never have known I was not dying,” she

said. “I was operated on and diagnosed as having cancer last December. “The next seven months were hell, especially at Christmas, I thought it was going to be my last.” She said her consultant had since said the growth had not become bigger and she was “one of the lucky ones”. But Mrs Matthews, who has plummeted in weight from 82kg to 51kg since last year, says she still does not know what is wrong with her.

A spokesman for Queen Alexandra’s Hospital, Mr Martin Carter, said, “The consultant who has been treating Mrs Matthews said he was not prepared, under any circumstances, to discuss personal details of this case, which are a matter between himself and his patient.”