My handsome, mature and exceptionally clever son was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in July 2020. The tumour was 8cm. Note he had originally contacted his GP during the pandemic suffering from itchy hands and feet. The GP dismissed him. I paid for private blood tests for liver function which showed he had the signs of obstructive jaundice (at this stage he wasn't yellow although he did go yellow soon afterwards). The GP still wasn't interested (he had no appointments and no emergency appointments) so I told my son to ring NHS 111 with the results of the tests and ask if he could go directly to A&E. Fortunately as soon as a clinician had seen the blood test results he made him an appointment at A&E the next day.

The cancer care my son received thereafter was exemplary, apart from a 5 week wait for surgery to remove the tumour after chemo had shrunk it, due to operating theatres being repurposed as wards during the second wave of Covid. After surgery, we had maybe 3 months of fun together before the cancer returned in multiple locations. He died aged 24 in Sept 2021. We followed his wishes by taking him to Switzerland as I had promised him I wouldn't let him suffer.

I just wish it had been me and not him, but he was so brave and so stoic, truly an old soul. Apparently the chances of him getting this cancer at such a young age were 1 in 50,000,000.