A woman has issued a warning after doctors dismissed her ‘knee pain’ as a sprain before telling her she has a rare tumour.
Unfortunately, it feels like it’s all too common to hear about someone’s health issue being dismissed. And so Ashley (user @modernday_eratosthenes) shared a TikTok as a ‘friendly reminder to always advocate for yourself’.
The woman from Los Angeles, US, had previously uploaded videos about suspecting she had a ‘broken knee’ or some kind of injury.
But a new video shared this week explains that her pain has been down to something that sounds a little scarier.
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Ashley explained that she hasn’t ‘been able to walk for a month’ and when she first went to see the doctor, they pretty much said: “Oh, you probably tore a ligament, here’s some physical therapy to fix that.”
The woman continued: “I know pain and I know injuries, and I was like, ‘No it’s not a torn ligament or a broken bone, something is really wrong.’”
Ashley went on to sarcastically say: “But, you know, look at me. I look fine and I’m young,” as her pain was dismissed.
She then had to ‘push really hard for an MRI’ scan of her knee, which she said ‘couldn’t be scheduled for three weeks out’.
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But when she did have that scan finally done, it revealed a ‘giant cell tumour’.
These are typically benign (non-cancerous) growth which develop in bones, typically around the knee and forearm.
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital explains: “These tumours can cause severe damage by causing the bone to dissolve. This can result in the bone breaking or the joint being damaged so badly that it has to be replaced.”
After getting her results, Ashley said she faced a further battle because she was told she couldn’t see a doctor about it until the end of the month, ‘which is unacceptable’.
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“I call them, and I have a full-blown mental breakdown,” she explains.
The person on the phone ‘apparently felt so bad’ for her and managed to schedule for her to see the oncologist on Christmas Eve.
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“He took one look at this [her scan], and was like, ‘We need to get this out ASAP.’
“Like, honestly, for the last two months, where has everyone been? Fortunately, I have a biopsy schedule in a couple of days to find out if this is cancer, and then I have it removed in a week, regardless of if it's cancer.”
Ashley ended with a reminder to ‘always push’ if you think there is something wrong and to always advocate for yourself.
Jess Battison