Covid 19 coronavirus: UK mum dies after pandemic suspends bowel cancer treatment

A UK mum has died of bowel cancer after her treatment was postponed due to the coronavirus crisis.

Kelly Smith, 31, from Macclesfield, Cheshire in the UK had been living with Stage 4 bowel cancer before her chemotherapy treatment was suspended earlier this year. She died on June 13 after a three-year battle with the disease.

Her friends say while her illness was terminal she died prematurely and was robbed of precious time with her son and family.

Smith was diagnosed with cancer at 28 when a scan revealed she had a 22cm tumour growing in her bowel. One week after she'd spent what would be her last Christmas with her family, Smith was told the cancer had spread to her small intestine, pancreas, lymph nodes, her liver, spine, stomach and brain, according to The Sun.

Smith's friend, BBC reporter Deborah James, said her chemotherapy was stopped in March as the effects of the pandemic worsened across the UK.

Kelly Smith died after her cancer treatment was stopped during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo / Instagram

"I'm angry at Covid and that I got put on this break because I don't think I should have," Smith told James in an interview on BBC Panorama programme.

"I'm terrified — absolutely terrified. I don't want to die.

"I feel like I've got so much more to do."

Before her death Smith's family had to make the difficult decision to move her to a hospice.

Safety restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic meant only her mother Mandy was by her side when she died.

"First Covid stopped Kelly's chemo — then it denied her family the right to be with her at the end," James wrote.

"Kelly's heartbreaking story is not unique."