A 25-year-old woman from the Poyntzpass area has said life has become a “complete whirlwind” after a trip to Turkey for a gastric sleeve procedure revealed she had a cancerous mass.
Alex Herron travelled with her fiancé John to Turkey last month (January) for the routine procedure.
She was anxious, but excited, and certainly never expected that her entire world would be upended.
Speaking to Armagh I, Alex explained that she had no cause for alarm. She had not experienced a single symptom.
Instead, she said, a pre-op assessment revealed something she had never expected.
Said Alex: “They did an ultrasound and they found a mass on my pancreas. They said they wanted a second opinion and the second came back from the ultrasound and then they wanted an MRI scan with contrast. Then the next day they said they weren’t happy to do the surgery.
“We still had to spend a week in Turkey because the flights were booked for the following Saturday. So we said we would make a wee holiday out of it and then whatever happened when we got home we would deal with it.”
Putting on a brave face, the young law student returned home and booked an urgent GP appointment on the Monday.
“We went to the doctor and thankfully he took it seriously,” said Alex. “I know sometimes doctors would see reports from Turkish doctors and be a bit dismissive but he said he didn’t want to take any risks and got me referred.
“The next week it was a CT scan in Belfast and I was told there that I had pancreatic cancer.”
She speaks of how quickly the process went, describing the “whirlwind” that her life has become.
For this, she said she is partly grateful adding, “every doctor that has spoken to me has said if it wasn’t spotted in Turkey before the surgery it would never have been discovered here until it was too late.”
In the next month, Alex will undergo a ‘Whipple Procedure’ which will see the removal of the head of her pancreas, her gall bladder, bowel duct and duodenum.
She said: “It’s one of the three most deadly surgeries you can get. It is a lot and there is a lot of risk that goes with it.
“I have spent the past two days in tears. I’m just trying to keep going mentally. It’s scary, it’s hard, it’s knowing that due to the funding here I’ve been told I will experience complications. Knowing that just makes it so much worse.”
It has been a lot to take in. Alex and John are both avid Belfast Giants fans. They never miss a game, but this season Alex has been further saddened by already having missed two.
While she knows the surgery is important and time sensitive, her wish is for it to be scheduled so that she can see her beloved Giants in their final game of the season in late March.
Unfortunately, Alex is currently unemployed and, as such, she faces the additional pressures of paying her bills while she awaits her surgery and during her period of recovery.
To alleviate some of her stress, fiancé John has set up a GoFundMe page to give his future wife peace of mind that her portion of the rent and utilities will be covered.
Any additional monies gained will be used to provide Alex with private medical care should she need it.
Described as an “avid-hiker” Alex is highly independent and struggles to ask for help with even the simplest of tasks.
She said: “I want everything to stay as normal as possible. I want to be as independent as possible and I want to be informed about what’s happening. That was for me a massive thing. I don’t want people to look at me as the girl with cancer.”
Aware of the unavoidable set-backs she’s certain to encounter in the coming months she added: I know it’s going to be hard. I know I’m going to experience complications. So any amount we receive, we will both just be so grateful for. It would mean the world to us.”
