Misdiagnosis can kill: Young woman suffers from agonizing pain after 7 years of unnecessary chemotherapy

Friday, April 22, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich
Tags: medical misdiagnosis, chemotherapy, Lyme disease

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(NaturalNews) Recently, 23-year-old Kirsty Keep begged her mother to take her to the Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas because she was in too much pain to go on with life. For the past seven years she has been receiving steroid and chemotherapy treatment for an autoimmune condition called lupus which she developed after being bitten by a tick at the age of 12.

Right away it was obvious that it wasn't an innocent tick bite as it grew to the size of a hand. Kirsty was hospitalized for three weeks. In the years following, she developed sudden and severe facial pain that felt "like electric shocks," and her face became paralyzed by Bell's palsy.

Over the past two years, she became so weak that she couldn't get out of bed and started to have severe seizures, too. She said she felt as though her "bones were snapping" and her "muscles ripping" and begged her mother to end her misery.

While she was ready to die, in a last attempt to find an answer to her worsening condition she released an emotional plea on social media, asking for help.

Kirsty wrote: "I'm suffering so bad, I'm in chronic pain every day. I'm always sick, I've lost 10kg in just over a year. I'm tired and I don't know how much more my body can handle. I don't know what to do next. I've tried so many things and am willing to try one more thing to save my life. My family and anyone else unable to live because of this awful illness we know nothing about. So I was wondering if anyone could help in any way."

7 years of unnecessary chemotherapy

A specialist at Guy's Hospital, London, now believes that Kirsty has been misdiagnosed and has received damaging treatments, including chemotherapy, for a condition she does not have. He believes her symptoms, including chronic pain and seizures, could be due to a genetic skin and bone disorder such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS).

"I can't believe it. Kirsty has been receiving chemotherapy, steroids and all sorts of damaging stuff, which she might not have needed. If it's EDS she should have been having vital physiotherapy and she hasn't had any for seven years. I've read so much about lupus for years and now I've got to start again with something else. I'm so angry," Kirsty's mom said after the medical appointment at Guy's Hospital.

This new diagnosis has left them unsure in what to believe. Kirsty's mom, Theresa, is not convinced – and wants her daughter to see a specialist in Germany or the US where she can be tested for Lyme disease and other tick-related diseases. Previous tests came back negative, but Kirsty's mother believes tests for Lyme disease in England are not thorough or sensitive enough.

The family has already raised over $22,000 via GoFundMe and announced the good news that Kirsty Keep will be seeing Dr. Jemsek in Washington DC in May.

Mrs. Keep said: "We can't even begin to thank everyone who has donated."

Misdiagnosis not uncommon

Kirsty is not the only one who has, unnecessarily, received damaging and life-threatening chemotherapy. Over 1.3 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year. According to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore one out of every 71 cases is misdiagnosed, and up to one out of five cancer cases is misclassified.

Mistakes occur as many pathologists are not specialists in the types of cancer they are diagnosing; furthermore, many clinics seek purposely overdiagnosis cancer in patients in order to sell more profitable therapies. This proves that we shouldn't rely on one specialist solely, but seek a second and even third opinion.

To learn more about the truth of chemotherapy and cancer treatments, sign up to watch the powerful cancer documentary series The Truth About Cancer at no cost!

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

DailyMail.co.uk

GoFundMe.com

ABCNews.Go.com