Posted on 09/19/2022 3:57:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ben Jones, 37, said that doctors at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil failed to spot his tumour on multiple brain scans as far back as 2010
A dad-of-three has been diagnosed with a brain tumour that he says was missed by doctors for 12 years. Ben Jones, 37, from Merthyr Tydfil said doctors at Prince Charles Hospital failed to spot his tumour on multiple brain scans, first in 2010 and then 2014.
After years of being in pain and feeling like something was wrong, Ben decided to seek medical help this year after he started having up to 30 seizures a day. The growth was finally identified on a further scan at the hospital in July.
But, after Ben was referred to another hospital for specialist care, dumbfounded doctors told him the tumour had in fact been visible on his first scan 12 years ago and those thereafter. The mass, which began on one part of the brain, has since spread to three parts of his brain and he will undergo major surgery in October to remove as much of it as possible.
Read more:'One of a kind' teenager killed in bike crash
However, doctors said it is highly likely the cancer will regrow and will have to be managed for the rest of his life. In the meantime, Ben has been forced to give up his driver's licence and stop working as a railway site manager due to the tumour, seizures and the medication he is taking to reduce their frequency.
His best friend, Luke Davies, 37, has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise £6,000 for Ben and his family, so they can survive the next few months without his income. Luke and a dozen other friends will be completing the Three Peaks Challenge in 24 hours to help raise the money.
Ben told WalesOnline he first had CT scans over two to three weeks at Prince Charles Hospital in 2010 after contracting bacterial meningitis. In 2014 he had another CT scan after he was involved in a car accident.
Suffering with headaches for years, he took so many painkillers that Luke, who has been friends with him since their early teens, wondered if he was addicted to them. The seizures that started more recently felt like "mini heart attacks" and left Ben unable to speak or use his left arm.
Galaxy For Business Pro tips for the mobile multitasker Lower A1c | Search Ads How to Lower Your A1c Level Fast by TaboolaSponsored Links An MRI scan in Prince Charles Hospital on July 18 this year finally revealed the cause - news which Ben recalled was "devastating". He said: "I've known for a while that there has been something wrong, but I was not expecting it to be that."
The tumour has caused Ben to have seizures and he's had to stop driving and working The tumour has caused Ben to have seizures and he's had to stop driving and working (Image: John Myers) Two weeks later, he was referred to Llandough Hospital, where doctors revisited the earlier scans and made the shocking revelation. "It was only then they were showing me the scans that dated back to 2010 that I realised Prince Charles [Hospital] had missed it for all this time. It is visible. I could see it, my partner could see it as well," he said.
The doctors at Llandough told Ben that doctors in Prince Charles might have interpreted the mass on the scan in 2014 as a "mini stroke", but Ben said there was no mention of this at the time either. They also noted that that year doctors at Prince Charles Hospital left a referral note for Ben to have an MRI scan following the CF scan - but Ben says this was never mentioned to him and no appointment was ever made.
The cancer, which is stage 2, has grown considerably since 2014. During the surgery in October, Ben will be awake and guiding the surgeons. He will undergo radiotherapy after the surgery to further reduce the tumour's size.
"It's going to come back, they said, 100% it's going to come back. It's just going to be a case now of managing it going forward," said Ben, adding that he will have to have an MRI scan every six months for the next ten years and will undergo more radiochemotherapy if the tumour grows.
Explaining how he might have to give up driving - and therefore his job - again in the future, he continued: "I'm going to have to be assessed a year now from the operation, if everything is removed, in order to get my driver's license back. If I have to have chemo or radiotherapy then, it's going to be another year from that date. So every time I have a treatment or something like that, it will keep setting me back a year. If I have a seizure, it'll go back a year."
Ben (left) and his best friend Luke Davies, who has set up a fundraiser to help Ben and his family survive the next few months while he is not working Ben (left) and his best friend Luke Davies, who has set up a fundraiser to help Ben and his family survive the next few months while he is not working (Image: John Myers) Speaking of the effect his diagnosis had had on his family, Ben, who has three daughters aged 3, 11 and 15, said: "My family has been affected [more than me]. My parents are in bits. My partner is in bits." He is in the process of getting financial help, but as this can take months Luke has set up the fundraiser to help in the meantime.
Luke said: "He hasn't long bought the house, there are a lot of bills to pay, and obviously the mortgage doesn't stop. Before the operation, I just want to try and get him some money so he can pay some bills and relax a little bit - so he goes into the operation with a clear mind and not having to worry about where the next bill payment is coming from."
On Friday, September 23, Luke and his friends will set off to begin the challenge. Ben will also attempt to take part, and said it could be "the last physical thing I do for a while." Speaking about his reaction to Ben's diagnosis, Luke said he thinks the fact the tumour was missed was "negligence and incompetence" rather than "human error".
He continued: "It's just a nightmare, but we finally know that there is something wrong. I'm still trying to process it all. I'm just focussing on this challenge as a way of trying to deal with this." You can donate to the fundraiser for Ben and his family here.
Prince Charles Hospital has been approached for comment. Llandough Hospital said it was unable to comment on individual patient cases.
Nice summay
That’s why I always take off my tin foil hat when getting a brain scan.
Some brain cancers grow as a thin membrane. Very hard to detect. Can you sue doctors in Great Britain?
TWELVE years? A friend of mine died from glioblastoma. From diagnoses to death in only two weeks. He worked for UPS and one day was acting confused, two weeks later he was dead leaving a wife and kid.
Do you take the tin foil hat off the cat too? That’s pretty risky.
“Ben Jones, 37, said that doctors at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil failed to spot his tumour on multiple brain scans as far back as 2010”
We have made great strides in the medical field yet we are still quite primitive in being able to detect these things.
People in the future will have the advantages of devices being able to instantly tell if something is wrong and then repair it. Of course those people may also have to deal with extreme forms of socialism, less freedom and who knows what else.
ALl the classic symptoms of brain cancer were present in the patient, yet they still didn’t diagnose him properly till many years later. Doctors can also take too much for granted. I have known people with overlooked diagnosis.
The doctors may have taken a quick look at Ben, the patient, and seen what appeared to be a healthy young adult male.
But the fact that he was experiencing pain and multiple seizures daily should have been a clue that something was dreadfully wrong. I don’t think this fellow has many years left as a fully functioning individual. There is always a chance that some therapy will be found to stop the growth of this tumor. I wish him well. The 6K GoFundMe will not go very far, but something beats having nothing in savings.
Incompetent radiologists and doctors, EVERY TIME FOR YEARS!
This is why you need to be on top of your own health and treatment. Get second opinions or change up your doctor or even hospital.
There is no excuse for this!
He should be able to sue.
“Do you take the tin foil hat off the cat too? That’s pretty risky.”
Agree, depends on the situation.
Yes, I looked it up.
Yet the doctor that did the last scan told him the growth was detectable on each of his brain scans.
Happens all the time due to this reason : )
The Simpsons - Crayon in Homer’s brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWiT4jT1NWU
Wow. Scary. Was he lucid during those two weeks?
No, he just got progressively worse then lapsed into a coma, it was horrifying. Before that I had no idea cancer could grow that fast. Never waste a day, it can all end tomorrow.
What does Taboola have to do with brain tumors and seizures anyway?
“A dad-of-three has been diagnosed with a brain tumour that he says was missed by doctors for 12 years. Ben Jones, 37, from Merthyr Tydfil said doctors at Prince Charles Hospital failed to spot his tumour on multiple brain scans, first in 2010 and then 2014.”
+++++
Let me think. Was there something that happened just before 2010 that suddenly made the medical profession a slave to the “coding” while ignoring the symptoms of the patient they were supposed to be examining, and whose test results they were supposed to be diagnosing?
“ALl the classic symptoms of brain cancer were present in the patient, yet they still didn’t diagnose him properly till many years later. “
Years? I guess you missed this part:
” Ben decided to seek medical help this year after he started having up to 30 seizures a day.”
“TWELVE years”
What is your point?
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