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Indirect victims of the Coronavirus: all those people who, due to the pandemic, cannot be treated for rare, chronic, degenerative, oncological diseases. And that’s what happened to a young woman in the UK, who became a symbol of the healthcare shortage that emerged from Covid-19 around the world. Kelly Smith died at age 31 of bowel cancer, leaving behind a 6-year-old son.
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THE TESTIMONIES
A tragedy that perhaps could have been avoided if it weren’t for the fact that, due to the confinement, he had to suffer a six-week stoppage in his chemotherapy sessions, with hospitals throughout the Canal committed to collapse due to the emergency caused by the Coronavirus. To tell her story is the Daily Mail newspaper, which has collected the testimony of the girl’s parents and that of other sick people who fear ending up with her. Kelly Smith was born in Macclesfield, England, and was a beautician when she was notified in March that her therapies had been discontinued. She immediately understood the seriousness of the situation, as she had been in treatment for three years, in chemotherapy and immunotherapy courses.
In recent months, he had already stated that he was afraid of dying because of this decision, and that was so, so much so that he died just three months later, in June. His death has opened a debate about the choice of the British National Health System (NHS) between who to save and who not, leaving hospitals exclusively for Covid patients but to the detriment of other patients. And now, in the Daily Mail, Kelly’s parents accuse the Health Service of trading their loved one’s life for other people’s. Mandy, the girl’s mother, and stepfather Craig Russell have started a petition that has already collected more than 316,000 signatures, calling on the government to end delays in cancer treatment during this pandemic.
The couple also met with British Health Minister Matt Hancock. “Cancer is a much bigger threat than Covid could be,” the man said on behalf of his wife. 500 people die from cancer every day and those numbers are starting to rise because there is no cure. Unfortunately, it is too late for Kelly, but there is still time to save other people. “
And Kelly’s story is not the only one, and the other testimonies are chilling. This is the case of Beth Purvis, 41 years old and two children. The operation to remove the lung tumor, which in the meantime has also spread to the brain, was canceled at the last minute. Maxine Smith, 31 and also a mother of two, has cervical cancer and anticipated her marriage: after being interrupted, she resumed her treatments and was declared out of danger but, without knowing if the cancer will reappear, she decided to say tiredness Yes. Jennifer Eldridge, 40, also with two children, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer four months late, anticipating only two years to live.
THE ALARM
Both the world of politics and the medical world are sounding the alarm. Even among the ranks of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party there are many perplexities and criticisms about how the pandemic is being addressed before and now. “This obsession with a problem, Covid, is disastrous, said Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the Tories. A second block would be an absolute disaster in terms of health: fewer cancer patients will receive treatment and there will be more deaths.”
Of the same opinion is Keir Starmer, since April the new leader of the Labor Party, in opposition. “Cancer is not a disease where you can leave people on the sidelines for three months,” said Karol Sikora, a consultant oncologist at the University of Buckingham. It’s not like a hip replacement or cataract surgery, where patients on the waiting list face immense discomfort: if cancer is not diagnosed and treated promptly, it can spread and more people will die.
Last updated: 07:35
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