Mother-of-two, 29, dies eight days after being diagnosed with cancer after doctors dismiss her pain as '˜just a migraine'

But the throbbing agony in her head was dismissed as “just a migraine”.

She’d also complained of aching bones, but was sent away with painkillers, reports the i.The young mother-of-two had fought cancer five years before aged just 24 and was terrified it had returned – but her sister says her fears weren’t taken seriously.

When the pain got so severe she went to A&E, it was then that blood tests and a scan was carried out and she was told the same day the devastating news that the disease was back – and she may not have long to live.

Her sister Kayleigh Finnigan says her death last Saturday – just eight days after her diagnosis of bone cancer – was a huge shock, and that Kara’s children Luke, 11, and Abbi, six, are struggling to cope.

“We never expected Kara to pass away so suddenly,” Kayleigh told i.

“The doctors said the cancer was aggressive and they were giving her blood transfusions to get her strong enough for chemotherapy. They’d said without chemo she could have weeks or months to live but the plan was for her to have treatment.

“But she never got the chance to fight the cancer this time. How do you explain to children that their mam isn’t coming back?”

Kara, a care worker from Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, had three quarters of her stomach removed when she suffered gastro cancer five years ago, when her youngest child was just a baby. “She’d started getting pain under her ribs when she was first diagnosed with cancer,” said Kayleigh, 32, a customer service representative.

“She was very private about it and only told her closest family and friends as she didn’t want to be pitied. She just got on with it because that’s what she was like.”

Kayleigh said her sister had a history of suffering with migraines, hence why her GP dismissed her symptoms as nothing serious.

The family are now waiting to hear from doctors whether the bone cancer was a metastasis, meaning that it was related to the original tumour she had in her stomach and it had spread to a different part of the body.

“They’d done a biopsy at the hospital and told us it would take two weeks for the results. I thought if they were happy to wait that long for the results it couldn’t have been that bad.

“I called her every day and on Saturday when I rang I was told she had a migraine and was sleeping it off. Then the nurse called me at around 1pm and told me to get there quick because she’d taken a turn for the worse.

“She slipped away 40 minutes later; I’d missed her by a few minutes as did her man. We’re heartbroken I never got to say goodbye to her.

“Her children were in a family room at the time. No-one knew how to take it in or what to say. Kara was fit and healthy just six weeks ago.”

Kayleigh has set up a GoFundMe page to ask for people’s help to provide the children with financial security without their mother.

“The funds raised for the kids will be put into a savings account until they’re 21. “Kara was just the kindest person you’d meet, she’d do anything for anyone and her children were her world.”

To donate to the appeal, click here.Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/mother-dies-eight-days-after-diagnosed-cancer-doctors-dismiss-pain-as-migraine-misdiagnosis/