A heartbroken widow has told of the harrowing wait until her husband was diagnosed with fatal pancreatic cancer, which came too late to save his life.
When doctors detected the disease in June this year, it was inoperable, had spread to the liver and caused life-threatening blood clots in the lung.
But Stuart Bradley, 42, from Co Down, Northern Ireland, had been suffering from symptoms since late 2023, including severe back pain, bowel problems and anxiety.
Bradley, 38, said his local GP had difficulty making an appointment for him and instead suggested telephone consultations.
During one of these remote appointments in May, a doctor confused her symptoms with sciatica, a painful condition that is triggered by compression of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back to the feet.
It wasn’t until June 19, nine months after the pain started, that father-of-three Stuart was finally able to get an appointment with his GP in person.
That’s when he was diagnosed with blood clots in his legs and was referred to hospital for further tests.
A week later, scans revealed several cancerous masses in his body, including one in his liver and another in his pancreas, which were deemed inoperable.
Stuart Bradely was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after suffering from back pain as well as unstable bowel habits. It took doctors almost a year to detect anything serious.
At the time, Stuart was so sick that his skin was yellow and he was “sweating profusely,” according to Michelle.
However, doctors could do little other than prescribe strong painkillers to treat his agonizing pain.
‘YO I had no idea what to do,” Michelle said. ‘It was also very scary for the kids.
‘We had to tell them about Dad’s cancer without even having the full information ourselves.
‘One night, Stuart felt excruciating pain. The painkillers weren’t working.
‘Paige, our middle daughter, stood at the top of our stairs crying and saying, “I don’t want Dad to get cancer.”
“I felt so helpless as a wife and mother that I couldn’t do anything to ease Stuart’s pain or Paige’s worry.”
Stuart’s condition deteriorated rapidly and, by September, the disease had killed him.
Michelle Bradley, Stuart’s wife, described her late husband as a “one-of-a-kind” and “larger than life” person who adored their three children, Kayla, 13, Paige, 9, and Blake , out of 4.
Michelle told the Belfast Telegraph: “Not seeing the GP made the situation incredibly difficult. “Stuart was never asked about any other symptoms or family history.
Speaking of her late husband, Michelle described him as “larger than life.”
She said: “It was one of a kind, full of fun and hilariously funny.”
‘Stuart had a special way of treating people. He was also an amazing, hands-on father. The children were his pride and joy.”
Now Michelle is working with the charity Northern Ireland Pancreatic Cancer to raise awareness of the warning signs of this deadly disease.
Around 10,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with this disease each year.
Pancreatic cancer is a general term for several tumors found in the 25cm tadpole-shaped organ that helps with both digestion and hormonal regulation.
One type, adenocarcinoma, is the most common, accounting for 90 percent of cases.
Often, the condition has few or no symptoms until patients suddenly begin to lose weight and turn yellow, at which point for the vast majority it is too late.
It is the reason why the disease has been called a “silent killer.”
However, in some cases there are warning signs, including intestinal problems such as bloating and nausea, pain in the abdomen or back, and loss of appetite.
The Northern Ireland charity contacted the Bradley family six weeks after Stuart’s diagnosis, putting them in touch with another woman who had gone through similar problems.
Michelle said: ‘I had never heard of the charity until this moment. Within a couple of days, a woman named Susan Cooke contacted me.
‘She had lost her husband Colin to pancreatic cancer. It was the first time I felt heard and understood.
‘I can’t describe how helpful it was to talk to someone who knew what we were going through.
‘NIPANC deposited £500 into our bank account to allow us to create special memories.
‘We were referred for counselling, which NIPANC co-funds with Cancer Focus NI, and a family photo session was arranged.
“Stuart was admitted to hospice three days after the photographs were taken and died two weeks later.”