A mom of four said she was put on a nine-month waiting list to remove what was thought to be a benign cyst — but it was ovarian cancer that she believes developed while she was waiting for surgery.
Rachael Misfud, 38, said her first symptom was fatigue — but it was extreme.
“I felt like I was 70 years old,” Misfud said, according to the Daily Mail. “I had to sleep when I got home from work just to get through the evening.”
But when she started to bloat, she sought medical care; an ultrasound revealed a mass on her ovary, but the teacher from the English county of Buckinghamshire said she was told it was likely benign.
“I just got put on a waiting list for it to be removed,” Musfud said. Nine months later, Musfud, who shares Paige, 18, Lexie, 15, Medina, 9, and AJ, 8, with husband Anthony, says she was told that the tumor was, in fact, cancerous.
Specifically, it was mucinous ovarian cancer, which the University of Chicago Medicine explains is a rare subtype of cancer where the cells are covered in mucus.
“I shut down. I was in complete shock,” Misfud said. “You just never think it’s going to be you. But then I had to focus on next steps. The consultant said to me, ‘You’re young. You’re a mum. We want to give you the best chance. We’re going to act quickly.’ ”
She said she was told the cyst mutated while she was awaiting surgery: “Maybe we need to be doing more scans while people are on waiting lists,” she said, according to the Daily Mail. “Especially as catching it early is the key for survival.”
Following the diagnosis, Musfud underwent a second surgery, removing all her reproductive organs, before she began chemotherapy. While she said chemotherapy “isn’t as scary as you think,” the hardest part was helping her children through her treatment.
“My youngest took it the hardest,” she said, sharing that when she lost her hair was “was the moment he realized I really had cancer. It took him a while to be able to look at me. That did break my heart.”
Musfud’s cancer was caught before it had spread, she says, giving her a more positive prognosis. But as she shares, “I keep thinking what would have happened if there had been any more delays.”
“The assumption was I had a cyst,” she said. “Maybe the assumption should be cancer until we’re sure it’s not.”
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