Good morning!

11 years ago my Mum was diagnosed with Breast cancer, she had a lumpectomy and Chemotherapy and was in remission until two years ago.

she started to complain about her back and numbness at the top of her leg. After weeks being told it was wear and tear I asked for her to be investigated further.

she had a full body scan and found out she had cancer in her liver, lung and base of her spine. She was put on hormone treatment as Breast cancer can obviously be triggered by hormones. That didn’t work!

 Secondly she was offered to go to the hospital in London, unfortunately this lead to her having a lung infection and she had to come off the trial.

The only options she’s had since was Chemotherapy and both times it has made her so ill and she is now so bad she can barely walk.

I have done numerous research into targeted treatments but have found out that without knowing the primary source it is futile. (obviously just assuming it’s from her original breast cancer) but with her not having any form of tissue sample being taken we do not know that for sure we are still dealing with the original breast cancer.

I want to have my Mums cancer tissue DNA tested so she can have targeted treatment for her specific cancer mutation. The company that do the testing need a tissue sample but can’t use her previous sample from 11 years ago because the cancer can have changed it’s characteritics.

I have asked why she didn’t have a sample taken when she was newly diagnosed and was told they assumed it was from the original breast cancer, can they say that and I have to take that decision or can I insist she has it done? Without this sample (which is apparently easily to take from her swollen lymph node with a core needle biopsy) we can not get any further treatment.

I’m upset and desperate as I don’t want to sit back and watch my Mum die when I could have a chance in preventing this. 

Does anyone know where I stand? Sorry for the long essay, just wanted you to know the full picture. X