Dying cancer patient told she had trapped nerve

A WOMAN who was told her severe pain was caused by trapped nerves criticised doctors yesterday after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Christina Boselli was told she had only a month to live. Picture: HEMEDIA

Christina Boselli, 50, suffered blinding headaches for more than a year but was repeatedly sent home with painkillers. She was finally admitted to hospital for an MRI scan last month after becoming physically sick.

Just days after celebrating her 50th birthday, Ms Boselli, from Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, was given the devastating news that she had three incurable tumours in her brain, neck and lungs.

She said yesterday: “I just can’t put it into words how it feels to be let down so badly.

“I have very little trust in the health service now. You go to them thinking that they are the experts and that they know best.

“It is just starting to dawn on me that I only have weeks to live.”

Ms Boselli began having headaches in 2012 and first visited her GP in January last year. She was referred to a neurosurgeon at Inverclyde Royal Hospital in February, who put her symptoms down to a trapped nerve in her neck.

Ms Boselli had to give up driving and was unable to continue working as a personal assistant due to the pain, which she described as a “migraine times ten”.

Despite seeing another two GPs and the same neurosurgeon again over the next year, she was not properly diagnosed until last month.

By then, it was too late. Her cancer was stage-four which means it is advanced and cannot be cured. Doctors told her that she had just four weeks to live.

“That was my birthday present. I couldn’t get my head around it. It wasn’t until afterwards that it began to sink in that I only had a month to live,” she said. “I’m very angry and upset. The stage it was caught at is terminal but if a scan had been suggested earlier, it could have been treatable. The earlier you catch it, the better chance you have.”

Ms Boselli was caused further upset immediately after her diagnosis when an appointment to discuss life-prolonging treatment was cancelled because a doctor was going on holiday.

She said her wish was to live to see her four-year-old grandson Drew start school in August.

Ms Boselli’s husband Patrick, 65, added: “Christina has been very brave and we are being realistic. It’s not nice waking up in the morning and wondering if your wife is alive or dead.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Clyde and Glasgow said: “We are very sorry that this patient’s experience has not been satisfactory.”