{"id":227567,"date":"2025-06-30T21:10:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/227567\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T21:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T21:10:16","slug":"bride-to-be-28-whose-cancer-was-dismissed-as-acid-reflux-says-she-laughed-in-disbelief-when-doctors-said-she-had-a-year-to-live-and-now-vows-to-spend-final-months-with-her-toddler-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/227567\/","title":{"rendered":"Bride-to-be, 28, whose cancer was dismissed as acid reflux says she ‘laughed in disbelief’ when doctors said she had a year to live – and now vows to spend final months with her toddler son"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six short months ago, as the nights were drawing in and her neighbours started putting up their Christmas<\/a> decorations, Georgia-Leigh Gardiner had a lot to look forward to.<\/p>\n

Picking a dress for her rapidly approaching wedding, getting prepped for a business degree and, most importantly, spending quality time with her two-year-old son Arlo before he headed off to nursery.<\/p>\n

But a devastating doctor’s appointment on Friday June 13 changed all of that.<\/p>\n

A year of stomach aches had resulted in dramatic weight loss<\/a>, 18kg in fact, but Georgia-Leigh was repeatedly told by her GP and local hospital, Leeds General Infirmary, to relax and take a few lansoprazole.<\/p>\n

Now, after one doctor spotted a lump and decided to book her in for scans, the mother, 28, was being told the life-shattering news she had poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of stomach cancer<\/a>. Even worse, it had spread\u00a0to the peritoneum and was incurable.<\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh’s first reaction at the meeting at St James’s University Hospital was to laugh in abject disbelief at the doctor’s words, before turning to her soon-to-be husband\u00a0Callum and mutter: ‘Are they actually being serious?’<\/p>\n

Her partner had turned a shade of green and, after a few seconds allowed the revelation to sink in, she herself started to cry and rushed out of the room before she had a full-blown panic attack.<\/p>\n

Two weeks on and\u00a0Georgia-Leigh is relentlessly scanning the market for treatment options, bolstered by a flying Gofundme<\/a>, but told MailOnline she remains ‘angry’ at Leeds’s failure to take her case seriously.<\/p>\n

\"Georgia-Leigh <\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh Gardiner was diagnosed with poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of stomach cancer, this month after repeatedly being told she had acid reflux<\/p>\n

\"Before <\/p>\n

Before the devastating news, she had lots to look forward to including\u00a0spending quality time with her two-year-old son Arlo, pictured, before he headed off to nursery<\/p>\n

‘When they gave me my diagnosis, I went through a stage of being upset,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Then I got quite angry because when we researched into this type of gastric cancer, it can go from stage one to four in a matter of months.<\/p>\n

‘So my initial thoughts were, “maybe if they did the test they needed to do at the time then they could have caught it at an earlier stage, when it wasn’t incurable, when it hadn’t spread”.<\/p>\n

‘I wasn’t getting any answers and I was still losing weight.\u00a0It was making me lethargic, I was in constant pain and I couldn’t eat. I was being sick so my quality of life was not good and I wasn’t being taken seriously.<\/p>\n

‘I don’t know if that’s because of my age. If somebody older would have gone in with the same things I was experiencing, they might have been taken more seriously at the start.’<\/p>\n

Early visits to her GP and Leeds General Infirmary complaining of diminished appetite saw her persistently rebuffed, even when blood scans raised a few minor issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soon she was struggling to keep food or water down, leaving her in constant pain and shedding pounds at an alarming speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But all it takes is one doctor to listen to your case. Unfortunately, when Georgia-Leigh found her woman, it was too late.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Her <\/p>\n

Her wedding ceremony with fiance Callum, pictured, has been moved forward in light of her diagnosis with terminal cancer<\/p>\n

\"Georgia-Leigh <\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh is realistic about her chances in a battle against cancer and some of the money raised in a Gofundme will go towards making memories with little Arlo\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: ‘When I was going to the hospital, they were sending me home. It was impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It wasn’t until the good GP surgeon sent me to the non-specific symptoms pathway [that her case was fast-tracked]. I took her a card to say, “thank you for taking me seriously”. Because it was awful and I was really ill, and no one would listen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I was going through all the emotions.’<\/p>\n

The doctor had noticed a lump on her breast and although some scans at the breast clinic came back OK, she was sent to Bradford for more tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An endoscopy raised some initial concerns before a CT scan confirmed the worst.<\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh’s thoughts soon crystallised after her initial delirious reaction and she has been going to a wellness centre which boasts oxygen chambers.<\/p>\n

She has also been in conversation with St James’s, who she praises for their response to the diagnosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her options have been bolstered by the \u00a37,230 which has flown into her GoFundMe in just three weeks.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The mother is unfussy about the destination of the big family holiday, as long as they are all together and putting adversity to the back of their minds<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She is determined for her toddler son not to forget her and will make sure to take plenty of photos during their planned trips abroad<\/p>\n

The mother’s unusual case has made her eligible for a clinical trial through the NHS, while the\u00a0Hallwang Clinic in Germany has emerged as an, albeit expensive, option offering drugs and treatment unavailable in the UK.<\/p>\n

But Georgia-Leigh is stoically realistic about her chances in a battle against cancer and some of the money will go towards making memories with little Arlo while she still has the time.<\/p>\n

‘I just did not ever expect to be diagnosed with cancer,’ she said. ‘It’s like an out of body experience.<\/p>\n

‘My goal is to live as long as I can be honest. Obviously cancer hasn’t got a cure so, being realistic about it, I need to also be making as many memories and taking as many photos as possible with my two year old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I don’t ever want him to forget who I am.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I want to see him grow up and get married but if that’s not an option, I want him to be able to look back and see all these memories, even if he doesn’t physically remember them, at least he’s got them in front of him.’<\/p>\n

The mother is unfussy about the destination of the big family holiday, as long as the three are all together and putting adversity to the back of their minds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: ‘We were supposed to be getting married in Italy, me and my fiance, because it’s beautiful. I’ve never been. It’s on my bucket list and obviously we’re having to bring the wedding forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The mother has been pressing on with plans for a memorable wedding day in September, despite also getting ready to start chemotherapy in the coming weeks<\/p>\n

\"Georgia-Leigh's <\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh’s thoughts soon crystallised after initially laughing at the news she had cancer and she has been going to a wellness centre which boasts oxygen chambers<\/p>\n

‘I’d just be happy anywhere with my family, to be honest, with no cares in the world, and enjoying the quality time with them someplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I could sit and watch the sun with them for hours.’\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Georgia-Leigh has been pressing on with plans for a memorable wedding day in September, despite also getting ready to start chemotherapy in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

‘There’s a charity that we’re in talks with called the Wedding Wishing Well,’ she said. They make dream weddings happen for people who get diagnosed with a terminal illness that have a short life expectancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I’ve got my dress. It’s beautiful, classic and royal, but it’s not too slick. It’s a romantic style dress. And definitely ivory, not white.’<\/p>\n

In the meantime, friends have been rallying around the young cancer sufferer, not just by pouring money into her fundraiser but also by organising events themselves.<\/p>\n

One has even arranged a ladies night ballroom in her honour, with 200 tickets being snapped up in no time.<\/p>\n

‘It is very overwhelming, because I wasn’t expecting so much support from it, to be honest,’ Georgia-Leigh added.<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She told MailOnline she remains ‘angry’ at Leeds General Infirmary’s failure to take her case seriously (Stock Photo)<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She has also been in conversation with St James’s University Hospital, who provided the initial diagnosis. She praises the establishment for its response to her condition (Stock Photo)<\/p>\n

‘But I feel like I can fight this fight until I can’t anymore.’<\/p>\n

Representing St James’s University Hospital, Dr Magnus Harrison, Chief Medical Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: ‘We are sorry to hear about Georgia’s experience and would like to support her with this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We would ask her to contact our PALS service so that we can work with her directly and understand what has happened.’<\/p>\n

MailOnline has approached\u00a0Leeds General Infirmary for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six short months ago, as the nights were drawing in and her neighbours started putting up their Christmas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1204,92,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-227567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114774372748305349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}