Off The Record
My Healthy 26-Year-Old Sister Died From Cancer 10 Months After Diagnosis—Her Only Symptom Was Easy To Ignore
An upset sister has described how physicians repeatedly failed to detect the bone cancer that murdered her “kind, considerate, and warm” sister when she was just 26 years old.
When ‘fit and healthy’ customer service representative Kate Drummond, then 25 years old, began experiencing lower back pain in the summer of 2020, she attributed it to bad posture and overtraining.
She went to A&E at her local Devon hospital in May 2021 after the pain spread to her hip, and they determined that she had “probable sciatica.”
Millions of people suffer from the common issue, which is connected to the nerves that connect the lower back to the legs, but doctors stated Kate was “young” to have it.
Three months later, however, medical professionals identified the real reason: a “grapefruit-sized” tumor in her pelvis.
Following months of treatment, Kate’s condition worsened “rapidly” in January 2022 as the illness swiftly spread to nearly every area of her body, including her liver, lungs, and other bones.
She tragically passed away in a hospital in March of that year. For the first time, her sister Kelly is sharing her tale to encourage people to “advocate for yourself” and “listen to your body.”
The personal trainer from Devon said, “We’d be silly to not assume that things could have been slightly different had she been diagnosed sooner.”
Kelly continued, “When Kate’s tumour was found it was large, they described it as grapefruit-sized and it was suggested she may have had cancer in her body for up to two years.”
“What started as some lower back pain turned into cancer within a matter of days, which then turned into multiple cancerous tumours in almost every part of her body— the rapid progression was shocking.”
“Kate’s story shows just how unpredictable cancer is and clearly, early diagnosis has been shown time and time again to save lives.”
Kelly recalled how her sister’s ‘intermittent’ lower back pain in the late summer of 2020 was the first indication that something ‘wasn’t quite right’.
“Kate put this down to working from home, it was the Covid pandemic, and she thought this was due to poor posture or a slightly uncomfortable working set-up,” Kelly said.
“By January 2021, the pain was more persistent and she had some new pain radiating into her hip as well.”
Kelly stated that Kate believed the new pains might be the result of ‘over-training’ and modifications to her exercise regimen.
However, by April of that year, her hip was “warm to touch” and had “slight swelling,” indicating that her symptoms had gotten worse.
According to Kelly, Kate began to seek assistance from her doctor, who recommended pain medication.
In May 2021, a blood test showed that a biomarker of inflammation in the body was ‘considerably increased’ while the pain persisted.
On May 27, 2021, Kate was sent to the emergency department (A&E) of a nearby hospital for more blood work and an X-ray.
She was informed that sciatica was the most likely culprit.
“They noted she was one of the youngest patients they had ever seen with this condition, particularly that extreme,” Kelly said.
She also mentioned that Kate’s mobility started to deteriorate, her discomfort was getting worse, and she was “struggling with everything.”
According to Kelly, after a spinal physiotherapist expressed concern about her symptoms, Kate made the decision to pay for an MRI on her own.
Kate was notified on July 7, 2021, less than two months later, that the scan had shown minor tumors on her spine and a massive tumor in her pelvic area.
On August 3, 2021, Kate received a biopsy at Birmingham Hospital and was found to have Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that can begin in soft tissue or bones.
Kelly remembers how ‘in a couple of weeks’ the sickness spread to Kate’s lungs, liver, skull, jaw and other bones in her body.
She went on to say, “The news was life-altering, not only for Kate but also for her friends and family.”
I felt shock and disbelief, but also a bit of guilt as well as you think: “Could I have done more to push her to seek help sooner?”
“It all felt really unreal and it shouldn’t happen to someone so young, especially someone so fit and healthy.”
For several months, Kate received chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and at first, the treatments seemed to be having an effect.
“She remained so strong and so positive the whole time, it was beyond us and we will never understand it,” Kelly said.
From January 2022, however, Kate’s health ‘rapidly worsened’ as her kidneys and liver began to fail.
“It just all changed from there, it was a rapid downward spiral that kind of came out of nowhere,” Kelly said.
Kate died on March 17, 2022. According to Kelly, she and her family members are still having a hard time accepting their loss.
“Kate was never meant to die, it was an aggressive cancer but she was never given a terminal diagnosis until the last few weeks,” she said.
“It just shows how very, very suddenly things can change.”
According to Kelly, Kate’s message would be to “advocate for yourself” and “listen to your body.”
“She would also want to encourage people to make the most of your life that you’re lucky to have,” Kelly added.
“Don’t wait, and laugh more, I think she would say.”
“Kate was the most kind and considerate person and people were just generally drawn to her, she was really warm.”
“She had really good wit and she was just hilarious—she had this amazingly infectious laugh.”
“We all say her laugh is what we miss most about her,” Kelly said.
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