![\"Nathan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SEI_266801151.jpg\")
Doctors had two chances to spot Nathan\u2019s cancer but only discovered the growth when it was too late<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tNathan Daniels was told he ‘did not have cancer’ by a doctor hours before a mass put so much pressure on his spine that it paralysed him\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
A grieving mother has told how her 35-year-old son died of cancer on his birthday after medics failed to spot tumours on two separate occasions.<\/p>\n
Nathan Daniels was even told he \u201cdid not have cancer\u201d by a doctor hours before a mass put so much pressure on his spine that it paralysed him. He was rushed back to Glangwili General Hospital, in Carmarthen the same day where he was finally diagnosed with lymphoma, but it was too late to do anything about it.<\/p>\n
Mum, Nelda, 62, from Carmarthen, South Wales, who has had breast cancer three times, said she remains angry and devastated at the horrendous failings that led to her only son\u2019s death last March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor looked at me and said that after all the blood tests and x-rays that he did not have cancer. But I just knew that wasn\u2019t true because he was in so much pain and it was the same pain that I had with cancer,\u201d Nelda said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor sent us home and told Nathan to \u2018get some fresh air\u2019. We struggled to get him in the taxi but once he was in he said he couldn\u2019t feel anything from the waist down. We rushed back to hospital and they did another scan and then that is when they told us that Nathan had cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A brilliant son\u2019 <\/p>\n
Nathan, a former Co-op manager who worked in a food warehouse and lived with his mother, was \u201cvery independent and a brilliant son\u201d, Nelda said. He first went to A&E suffering from joint and chest pain in September 2023, but his condition was assessed as being a rheumatology issue.<\/p>\n
In February 2024 he had an X-ray which showed a mass on his spine, but it was missed by medics. Less than two weeks later he returned to A&E with severe pain and weight loss. An X-ray showed a mass was eroding his rib but he was sent home and returned later the same day with paralysis.<\/p>\n
Nathan had an emergency operation on 27 February to remove the tumour. He developed pneumonia while still in hospital on 26 March and went into a coma. He died on 28 March \u2013 his birthday \u2013 from multiple organ failure.<\/p>\n
Doctors had two chances to spot Nathan\u2019s cancer but only discovered the growth when it was too late<\/p>\n
Nelda has instructed medical negligence solicitors from Jackson Lees to take civil action against Hywel Dda University Health Board, which runs the hospital and has apologised for their failings after carrying out their own investigation into Nathan\u2019s treatment. A spokesperson for the board said it would not be making the findings public.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was so angry\u2019<\/p>\n
Nelda said: \u201cA few months after Nathan died, I was called into the hospital and was told by doctors that the tumours had been missed as they hadn\u2019t looked at the whole scan. They said they were sorry. I was so angry and said what good is your apology? My son is dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can mistakes like that happen? Once you could forgive, but twice? No. I wanted to punch the doctor who looked me in the eye and said it wasn\u2019t cancer. I\u2019d like him struck off. My son died on his birthday. We should have been celebrating but instead I started mourning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m speaking out about my loss as I want this on record so that no other mother goes through the pain I continue to go through. I lost my only child and it could have been prevented. I have to live with that for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas Cullen, a specialist medical negligence lawyer from Jackson Lees, who represents Nelda, said: \u201cThis is a horrifically tragic death of a young man that could have been prevented. While we are grateful for the trust\u2019s apology, we would urge them to settle this matter as soon as possible so that my client can start to try and rebuild her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon Daniel Director of Nursing, Quality and Patient Experience at Hywel Dda University Health Board said: \u201cWe extend our deepest sympathies to the family who continue to deal with their loss. While we can\u2019t comment on individual cases, in the event of a serious incident we have robust processes in place for reviewing the incident internally, identifying any issues and, where appropriate, preparing an improvement plan to prevent such an occurrence in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe regret any such incidents and always seek to learn from them. We endeavour to engage with those directly impacted whenever there is cause for concern.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Daniels was told he ‘did not have cancer’ by a doctor hours before a mass put so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1204,105,17978,211,29980,66621,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-442806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-iweekend","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-nhs-hospitals","13":"tag-nhs-wales","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115246875613037272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442806","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=442806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}