{"id":159785,"date":"2025-09-25T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/159785\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:42:15","slug":"my-gp-told-me-i-had-sciatica-but-my-agonising-back-pain-was-actually-caused-by-a-grapefruit-sized-tumour-on-my-spine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/159785\/","title":{"rendered":"My GP told me I had sciatica, but my agonising back pain was actually caused by a grapefruit-sized tumour on my spine"},"content":{"rendered":"

For two years, a young woman was repeatedly told by doctors that her lower back pain was caused by sciatia\u2014until she flew to Greece<\/a> for private scans which revealed a grapefruit-sized tumour on her spine.<\/p>\n

Leah Kalkan, 23, a student from West Yorkshire, knew that there was something wrong, and saw her GP several times a week for years complaining of debilitating pain.<\/p>\n

Despite her pleas for help, hospital referrals, multiple scans and even calls to paramedics, she was assured it was sciatia, a condition which normally occurs due to a slipped disk.<\/p>\n

The disk presses against the sciatic nerve that runs from the lower back to the foot, and can cause shooting pains, a sensation of cramp and can be so severe it leaves someone unable to walk.<\/p>\n

In 2023, a tender, hard lump ‘the size of a grapefruit’ appeared on her lower back, prompting Ms Kalkan’s partner to arrange for her to undergo a private scan in Greece.<\/p>\n

The procedure revealed concerning abnormalities, but when her GP refused to look at the scans due to them being done abroad, she was forced to seek a private opinion.<\/p>\n

She was subsequently diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a form of cancer.<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan said: ‘I was scared\u2014they told me the lump was very serious, and that my cancer was rare and aggressive.<\/p>\n

\"Leah <\/p>\n

Leah Kalkan, 23, a student from West Yorkshire, knew that there was something wrong\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I think I asked my consultant over five times in that same appointment: “Will I be cured?”<\/p>\n

‘She couldn’t give me a definite answer, and her honesty scared me more.<\/p>\n

‘Knowing there was a deadly disease inside my body growing at a rapid rate and having been told that I was fine repeatedly was devastating.<\/p>\n

‘I had been going to the doctors a few times a month for a couple of years by the time I was diagnosed.’<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan first experienced pain towards the end of 2021, and attempted to manage her symptoms with painkillers.<\/p>\n

But the following year, during a trip to Turkey with her dad in the summer of 2022, the pain became debilitating.<\/p>\n

She said, ‘I spent a lot of time in my hotel room as I was in so much pain.<\/p>\n

‘I was getting a pulsating pain from my lower back down my right leg and into my foot.<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan first experienced pain towards the end of 2021, and attempted to manage her symptoms with painkillers<\/p>\n

‘I couldn’t sit down, lie down, or walk, and paracetamol and heat patches weren’t touching the pain.’<\/p>\n

Her father paid for her to have an MRI scan, which found a suspected herniated disk, and she was given pain relief.<\/p>\n

But when she returned to the UK, the pain got worse once more.<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan said: ‘I took the MRI scan to a private osteopath, and he said that he couldn’t see anything alarming.<\/p>\n

‘The osteopath said that I had damaged my tailbone and that was causing the pain, and gave me Ibuleve gel, which didn’t help.’<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan was going to the doctors multiple times a month with complaints of pain in her back, but they were stumped and couldn’t see evidence of anything serious at play.<\/p>\n

She said, ‘The pain was so bad that I had to call an ambulance twice in 2023.<\/p>\n

‘I was working in a steakhouse and had to call an ambulance to come there one day, so they told me that I had meat sweats, even though I was working there and not eating.<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan was going to the doctors multiple times a month with complaints of pain in her back<\/p>\n

‘They were being dismissive and didn’t spend much time with me, making sure I was fine\u2014and even expected me to go back to work.’<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan felt she was ‘not being taken seriously’ on both occasions.<\/p>\n

When the lump formed in October 2023, Ms Kalkan became terrified of what the cause might be.<\/p>\n

She said, ‘It was a tender, hard lump which turned red at times and was the size of a grapefruit.<\/p>\n

‘[Around that time], I also found that I had lost lots of weight.<\/p>\n

‘I’d been a healthy weight, but with the pain, I wasn’t able to eat as much.<\/p>\n

‘I dropped to the lowest weight I had ever been, and most of my clothes hung off me.<\/p>\n

‘I was also so tired \u2013 I had to stop uni and work because of the pain and the tiredness.<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan in hospital, it took two years for her cancer to be diagnosed\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I carried on going back to the doctors a few times a month.<\/p>\n

‘Sometimes, I’d go one day and then go back again the next day, crying to them and begging for scans and pain relief as I knew myself that something was wrong with my body.<\/p>\n

‘I knew it wasn’t sciatica.<\/p>\n

‘I’d also wait long hours at my local A&E to be sent back home with paracetamol, codeine, amitriptyline, naproxen, morphine, and many more medications, but nothing was helping, and I knew I needed a scan.’<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan was offered an ultrasound, which failed to find the source of her pain, and claims she was refused other scans.<\/p>\n

Her boyfriend, who grew up in Greece, booked a short trip to take her there to have MRIs and an X-ray, which found abnormalities.<\/p>\n

But as they had been taken in another country, her GP wasn’t able to look at them.<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan said: ‘It was frustrating as we only paid to have them done there because I couldn’t get them in England.<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It wasn’t until she discovered the lump pictured that she went on to find out the true cause of the pain she had been experiencing<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The treatments and tests have left Ms Kalkan with scarring just below her right shoulder<\/p>\n

‘By this point, the pain left me screaming in agony and unable to walk or sit upright most times.’<\/p>\n

Once again, Ms Kalkan paid for a private consultation with a neurosurgeon to look at the scan results from Greece\u2014and they were immediately concerned that it was a tumour.<\/p>\n

She was referred for a biopsy with the NHS, and in December 2023, Leah was diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n

She was put on a strong regimen of chemotherapy, undergoing 14 cycles, plus 33 proton beam therapy sessions, and was supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust throughout her ordeal.<\/p>\n

Luckily, her treatment, which finished in July 2024, was successful, and she has since been able to return to her studies this month, studying modern languages and English with French.<\/p>\n

She is sharing her story to help raise awareness\u2014 and funds\u2014for Teenage Cancer Trust, which is partnering this week with the Omaze Million Pound House Draw.<\/p>\n

The money raised by the charity partnership will help fund Teenage Cancer Trust nurses, who support around 7,000 young people with cancer every year \u2013 including Leah.<\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan said, ‘All of the Teenage Cancer Trust nurses were so sweet and kind.<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Kalkan in bed after receiving treatment for the cancer which doctors dismissed as sciatica<\/p>\n

‘I would always look forward to seeing them, and they made me feel comfortable and made me smile as much as they could, and I am so grateful.<\/p>\n

‘They put on events, and I started to get involved with people on the unit who are around the same age as me.<\/p>\n

‘Being treated around other young people gave me the opportunity to meet some of the strongest, kindest and most understanding people in my life.<\/p>\n

‘It helped knowing that I wasn’t alone.’<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her experience\u2014and particularly the long route to diagnosis, Ms Kalkan added: ‘If I could take myself back in time, I would have kept pushing for a diagnosis.<\/p>\n

‘My symptoms were quite obvious, and any lump should be alarming.<\/p>\n

‘I would encourage people to trust their own bodies and keep going back to the doctors to push for an answer.<\/p>\n

‘But I also think GPs need to educate themselves on the signs of cancer in young people because mine were so obvious and I still wasn’t being seen.’<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Jess’s Rule was launched by the NHS in England\u2014named in the memory of Jessica Brady who died of cancer after doctors dismissed her concerns TWENTY times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new rule will force GPs to rethink a diagnosis if a patient comes to them three times with the same symptoms or concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, writing for the Daily Mail, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Jessica Brady Should be alive today.<\/p>\n

‘At just 27, this bright young woman died of cancer after her GP failed to diagnose her condition despite more than twenty appointments over five months.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For two years, a young woman was repeatedly told by doctors that her lower back pain was caused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,2043,102,1644,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-159785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-greece","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-turkey","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}