My brother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2013 and was told the prognosis was good - it's the best kind of cancer to have they said, whatever that means. Fast forward to 2016, my brother had his thyroid removed and had 2 lots ofradio iodine treatment - he was having pain in his back but his oncologist said it wouldn't be the cancer as it would be a persistent pain. It turns out the cancer spread to his bones and to his lungs. The word terminal was never used and I think we were all in denial and that he would get better.

The way his case was treated has upset and angered me. Everything was such a struggle, he was left from 2014 to early 2015 and there seemed to be no sense of urgency with anything. This has made it so much worse. He developed thyoid eye disease which we later found out was a result from the radio active iodine treatment and could have been prevented .. but we were never informed this could happen and the oncologist had no idea why he had this (a steroid before the treatment would have prevented this) although it is rare my brother suffered with watering and bulging eyes double Vision and couldn't watch tv or even read in his darkest days when he was just lying in bed at home ....

he was referred to royal marsden finally in Jan this year - although the doctored weee amazing and did all they can it was too late as he died in april at 44.

me, my mum, dad and sister all watched him die... the worst thing imaginable. He was so strong  and brave until the end and was determined to live - 

the way he died was awful- on a cancer ward with 3 other men.. the staff weren't sure if he was dying or not. He had agitated delirium and the actual dying process took 23 hours while we sat with him praying he would get better - 

we should have been told he was dying so we could have got him to a hospice where he would have had proper palliative care and treated with dignity

this will remain with me forever. Obviously I want to remember him as he was before and not the last few days or weeks but it's so hard to get those images out of my head.. I was naive thinking he would die peacefully with a few gasps of air

my heart is broken