British Man Says He Diagnosed His Own Cancer

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A British engineer, located in Hull, United Kingdom, has said that he had to diagnose himself with cancer after his GPs failed to do so on nine separate occasions.

Kevin Everett first began to notice sinus and breathing problems about a year ago. He went to his local GP practice to get checked out, but said that they were less than helpful. During this time, doctors diagnosed him with a battery of illnesses, from bronchitis to asthma to sleep apnea, and prescribed him courses of steroids and antibiotics. Despite all of the medication Everett received, he says that his condition only worsened.

After being fed up with his blocked nose and hearing loss, he took to Google to try and piece together his symptoms. He found that he seemed to have all of the classic signs of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Everett said of his ordeal:

“I have no faith in GPs any more. I was told if it had taken any longer to diagnose, it could have spread further and would have been incurable. I know diagnosing yourself is not the best thing to do and it must drive the doctors batty.

But, after a year of getting nowhere, it was the only thing I could do. If it took me 15 minutes to look at NHS Choices, why couldn’t they, as trained GPs, find out what was wrong with me?”

After making the shocking discovery that he might, indeed, have cancer, Everett asked for a referral to the local hospital for testing.

“They put a camera up each of my nostrils for about 30 seconds, took it out and said immediately there was tissue growing in my post nasal cavity,” he said.

The ENT at Castle Hill Hospital took a biopsy of the tissue growth and found it to be malignant cancer. He began chemotherapy in April and will begin radiation therapy on July 6. After each course of chemo, Everett has had to spend at least five days in the hospital, and doctors have told him he may need to be fitted with a feeding tube after radiation. It could take him up to three months to recover.

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