Mum given just months to live after doctor's mistake
A mum-of-two has been given just months to live after being misdiagnosed with low iron and post-natal depression.
Soon after giving birth to her second child in 2019, Chanelle Moles, from Fremantle, WA, says she began to feel extremely fatigued but was told by her GP that she was suffering from a hormone imbalance.
However, over the following year, the 34-year-old’s exhaustion worsened.
“The fatigue became even more extreme, but with a toddler and a young baby, I thought this feeling was just normal,” she wrote on a website dedicated to her recovery.
“I knew something else was at play when I tried to dig myself out of this hole with exercise and healthy eating.
“I would go for a walk in the morning and found it very hard to get out of bed for days afterwards.”
The frustrated mum, who saw her deteriorating health take a toll on her family, returned to the GP late in 2020 and pushed for an answer.
Ms Moles was referred for a colonoscopy after blood tests showed she had low iron and anaemia. The results turned her life upside-down.
In October 2020, doctors diagnosed the mum with a large tumour in her colon, but subsequent scans showed the cancer had spread to the 34-year-old’s liver and was Stage 4.
'I don't have long to live'
Due to the aggressive nature of her cancer, Ms Moles underwent surgery the following month to remove the tumour and spots on her liver.
After 13 months of chemotherapy, her body began to struggle with the treatment, and a radiation therapy dubbed CyberKnife was used to destroy all of the legions on her liver, sending her into remission.
However, the good news was short-lived.
Just one month later — and four days before Christmas in 2021 — Ms Moles was told the cancer had spread to her peritoneal cavity, ovaries and all throughout her abdominal area.
Recent scans show her cancer is now in her lymph nodes, diaphragm, lungs and has returned to the liver.
With additional surgeries unable to remove all of the lesions, the mum has been told she only has six to 18 months to live.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I have thought that within five years of becoming a mummy I would be told I don’t have long to live,” she said in a Facebook post seen by Yahoo News Australia.
“Everyday I wake up I wish I could just ‘wake up’ from this nightmare and see that it was all just a dream.
“Unfortunately it is not, this is my reality and the reality for my beautiful children and husband. I don’t want to leave them, not yet. I love life and I am doing everything I possibly can to fight for mine.”
Mum discovers alternate therapy in US
Determined to stay alive for her family, Ms Moles, her husband, relatives and friends are raising money so she can undergo peptide replacement therapy in Houston, Texas.
The mum stumbled across the treatment while researching online.
“I came across a person in the United States whose backstory and case are almost identical to mine.
Toddler fighting for life as mysterious hepatitis outbreak sweeps the globe
'Extremely' rare condition leaves one-year-old girl fighting for her life
Mum’s devastating diagnosis after dismissing ‘pregnancy symptoms’
“They were told they had three months to live; however, their life was saved after receiving a highly successful peptide replacement therapy. They are now cancer-free.”
The grateful family have created a GoFundMe, website and social media pages titled Save Chanelle to help fund the treatment and share her story.
“If you can help it would mean more than the world to me. It is everything,” Ms Moles said.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
