Northland resident Fiona Furrell is still waiting for treatment five months after she found a lump under her arm and was diagnosed with lymphoma. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland resident Fiona Furrell is still waiting for treatment five months after she found a lump under her arm and was diagnosed with lymphoma. Photo / Tania Whyte
It’s taken five months of tests and scans for Northland resident Fiona Furrell to be told she has cancer. Five precious months in which the clock is ticking and every day counts.
In that time, her body has become “riddled with lumps and tumors” and, because she is yet to receive any treatment, the 69-year-old Whangārei resident is resigned to the likelihood she’s going to die.
Now Furrell, who calls herself “a fighter”, wants to speak out about what she believes is an abysmally underfunded hospital system, and the frustrations of being caught up in a continuous stream of appointments.
She has twice asked to be referred to Auckland for specialist treatment because it was taking so long to get an appointment with hematology in Northland.
“Our hospital is an understaffed, overworked mess and people are dying because of it,” Furrell said.
“You can’t leave cancer patients for months and months without treatment of some description... and there’s nothing.
“It’s like bashing your head against a brick wall.”
Furrell contacted the Northern Advocate after reading about Neill Bainbridge, who died of cancer after going 10 weeks without ever seeing an oncologist.
Bainbridge’s family recently lambasted New Zealand’s “broken” healthcare system after his wife Sheryl got the call for his first appointment the day before he died.
Like Bainbridge’s wife and family, Furrell, who has lymphoma, has no issue with the medical staff, who have been nothing but kind, professional and compassionate.
Furrell first went to her doctor in April after finding a lump under her arm and returned three weeks later because it had grown.
The doctor told her a scan “would take some time” under the public health system, so she opted to go private, getting a scan in two weeks which “found many lumps under my right arm”.
Furrell was referred to a surgeon in July who took a biopsy that “showed nothing”, before being sent to a breast clinic a month later which “found lumps everywhere, through my breasts and arms”.
Fiona Furrell says the hospital system is an "understaffed, overworked mess, and people are dying because of it". Photo / Tania Whyte
Another biopsy was scheduled for two weeks’ time, which was inconclusive, and more than a month later, she returned to the surgeon, who took a lymph node out which “showed clearly it was lymphoma”, a type of blood cancer that develops in the lymphatic system.
Despite this, Furrell, whose father died of lymphoma, endured more waiting before being referred for another scan.
“By that stage, we were five months into more than likely knowing I had cancer, and still no treatment offered.
“I got phoned back and they said they need to do another biopsy on my left arm and take another node.
“I said ... ‘I’ve had four already and a Pet scan … what I need is treatment, but I still haven’t seen anyone in hematology’.
“In that time, I’ve become riddled with lumps and tumors.
“They should have removed a lymph node under urgency, but everything was a month in between.”
Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau clinical support services manager Chris McLellan acknowledged “that waiting for hospital appointments can be a worrying and sometimes distressing time for patients and their loved ones”.
“We are committed to providing our communities with exceptional cancer care and treatment services,” McLellan said.
“Our staff work tirelessly every day to support patients and their families.”
McLellan said there were 60 subtypes of lymphomas with different treatments for each, “so it is imperative that we have a confirmed diagnosis”.
“The clinical nurse specialist provides regular updates to the patient throughout this time.”
Furrell had another appointment with the surgeon on October 2, who referred her to radiology for another biopsy under ultrasound in Whangārei two days later.
When she spoke to the Advocate last Thursday, she still hadn’t seen an oncologist or anyone from hematology.
“You wouldn’t believe our health system would let you wait when it’s dangerous and when your life was on the line,” she said.
“But they do, and people are accepting that.”
There are an estimated 21,000 people living with blood cancer or a related condition in New Zealand.
The blood cancers combined - leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma - are the fifth-most common form of cancer in New Zealand.
Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering health, food, lifestyle, business and animal welfare issues.
