For two years, we repeated at Leah Kalkan, 23 -year -old British student, that her atrocious back pain was only due to sciatica. In reality, a tumor the size of a grapefruit grew on its spine. “I was going to the doctor several times a month, crying and begging for scanners …”says today the young woman of the West Yorkshire in the Daily Mail.
Two years of medical wandering for a back pain
It all started at the end of 2021, when Leah felt his first low back pain. Very quickly, they become disabling. Assured that it is a sciatica, she tries to relieve her symptoms with analgesics. But the pain persists and worsens. “”I could neither sit, nor walk, nor even lie down. I have a pain in pain “she recalls.
The months pass, the consultations are linked, the diagnoses are repeated. Despite several MRIs (initially), ultrasounds and emergency passes, Leah is prescribed paracetamol, codeine or morphine. But always the same explanation: a simple sciatica.
A tumor the size of a grapefruit on the column
In October 2023, a hard mass appeared behind his back. “It was a red and painful bump, the size of a grapefruit. I understood that something really was wrong” describes the young woman. But faced with the refusal of additional examinations in the United Kingdom, his companion organizes a stay in Greece for private tests. The results reveal a disturbing anomaly.
Back in England, his general practitioner refuses to consult them, on the pretext that they come from abroad. Leah then turned to a private neurosurgeon who immediately suspects a tumor. In December 2023, the verdict fell: an ewing sarcoma, rare and aggressive cancer. “”Knowing that there was a deadly illness in my body and that I had been repeated that everything was fine was devastating. I asked my doctor five times: “Will I heal?” She couldn’t answer. “
Ewing sarcoma, rare bone cancer
Ewing sarcoma is infrequent cancer, with only 80 to 100 new cases per year in France. As Dr. Gérald Kierzek, medical director of True Medical explains, he mainly affects adolescents and young adults, often male. This cancer most often develops in long bones, the pelvis, ribs or spine, but can also appear in soft tissues. Its symptoms are varied: persistent bone pain, sometimes more intense at night, swelling or visible mass, unusual fatigue, weight loss, even spontaneous fractures on a weakened bone.
The treatment is generally based on three stages: pre-operative chemotherapy, followed by local treatment (surgery and/or radiotherapy), then post-operative chemotherapy. Fortunately, there is a good prognosis. “”Ewing sarcoma is 70% long -term survival for localized tumors, with a more favorable prognosis for young patients (under 15) and girls ” underlines our doctor.
When good signs go unnoticed
For Dr. Laurent Grange, rheumatologist, the case of Leah illustrates how difficult it can be to distinguish a banal sciatica from a more serious pathology. “In reality, a lombo-sciatica can have several origins: most often a herniated disc or osteoarthritis. But there are many other possible causes: infectious, such as a tumor abscess, such as metastases or bone tumors; or neuromas that irritate the nerve.»
In theory, imaging is not systematically prescribed before seven weeks of evolution, except in the presence of “red flags” (weight loss, fever, alteration of the general condition, engine deficit). Everything that happened to Leah in short. “At the start, an Ewing sarcoma is very small and can go unnoticed. But when we come to a mass the size of a grapefruit, it means that no recent imaging has been made. This is where there is a lack of this story.”
According to him, these situations remain fortunately rare, but reveal the flaws of an under -tensioning system:
“When a patient returns several times with the same pains, you have to redo exams. In France, it is often said that a lumbosciatic that persists or worsening must push for new investigations.“”
A call to listen to patients
Follows a heavy protocol for Leah: 14 chemotherapy cycles and 33 proton therapy sessions. Today the young woman, saved, shares her story to raise awareness of the importance of listening to young patients and not minimizing their symptoms.
“If I could go back, I would have insisted even more to get a diagnosis. My symptoms were obvious. Any size should be an alarm signal.“”
This testimony resonates while the NHS in England has just set up the “Jess rule”, in tribute to Jessica Brady, who died of unmatched cancer at 27 despite more than twenty consultations. From now on, general practitioners will have to reassess a diagnosis if a patient returns at least three times with the same symptoms.