A woman who has battled cancer four times was made to think she was going to die after receiving an old letter from the NHS telling her she had relapsed.
Shell Rowe, from Billericay, Essex, was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2019, just after discovering she had been accepted to university in California to study film, her dream career.
The 24-year-old was diagnosed with the disease three more times and underwent chemotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy and a stem cell transplant.
He has been in remission for more than two years, but was scared when he was sent an outdated note from University College Hospitals in London telling him his cancer had returned.
Speaking to her 123,000 followers, Shell said: ‘Who in the NHS then hates my guts? Because I have the feeling that someone is taking out life insurance on my life and trying to give me a heart attack with this letter.
Shell Rowe, from Billericay, Essex, thought she was going to die after receiving an old letter from the NHS.
Award-winning podcast host and cancer campaigner Lauren Mahon was pictured with Shell Rowe for a Macmillan fundraiser.
‘I would rather receive goat shit in the mail than what they sent me. Knowing that I’ve had cancer four damn times, why would you use this phrase: “This patient has been identified as having had a subsequent relapse of the disease”?
‘I’m sorry, why are you telling me I’m going to die in the mail?’
Shell said the letter was from three years ago, when he last relapsed, and said he only knew about it because it talked about CAR T-cell therapy, something he had gone through at the time.
She said: ‘I was sent a letter three years late about the last time I relapsed while I wait for new MRI results.
‘When I tell you, my whole soul came out of my ass. Way to shit in my Weetabix this morning!
She captioned the video: “My life flashed before my eyes with this letter from the hospital.”
Shell has documented the ups and downs of her cancer journey online and has worked with Teenage Cancer Trust and Macmillan.
She took part in a campaign called ‘Anything But Hair’, which featured ‘hairless hairstyles’ in a bid to raise funds and spread positivity around hair loss.
Her followers rushed to the comments to voice their opinion about the video, with some saying the same thing happened to their relatives who died from cancer.
One wrote: “After my mother passed away we received a letter addressed to her with the NHS in the envelope from the exact hospital she died in. I wish I was making this up.”
Shell said the letter was from three years ago, when he last relapsed, and said he only knew about it because it talked about CAR T-cell therapy, something he had gone through at the time.
Her followers rushed to the comments to voice their opinion about the video, with some saying the same thing happened to their relatives who died from cancer.
Another responded and said: ‘They did this with my dad, he passed away in hospital almost three years ago and I got an email from the hospital about appointments and I called and screamed at the doctors because I was grieving and they obviously don’t. knowing how to inform other parts of the hospital that the patient has died.
“I have since started working at that same hospital and it’s ridiculous how they still do it.”
A third wrote: ‘Good NHS!!! I’m still waiting for an emergency scan from 15 years ago.
A fourth commented: ‘My uncle still gets a post from my aunt, who passed away from cancer, telling him it’s time to get a cervical check. Many doctors sometimes forget basic empathy.’
A UCLH spokesperson said: ‘We have called Shell to apologize for the distress caused by this letter. This was a copy of a new letter, written this month and sent to his GP, which included a summary of his medical history. “We understand how this has been misinterpreted.”