Darius’s story

“In February 2024, I started experiencing really bad back pain,” he recalls. “I went to a physio, who thought it was probably sciatica caused by climbing and advised me to take paracetamol and gave me some exercises to do.”

As his pain worsened, Darius did what any of us would do — he kept seeking help. Despite NHS and private physiotherapy appointments, he became almost immobile. His private physio grew deeply concerned and urged him to request blood tests, a scan, and an X-ray.

Those warnings were brushed aside by his GP.

“I feel that this was the first missed opportunity to diagnose my cancer. The private physio had had three 30-minute appointments with me, but the practice physio, who had seen me for less than five minutes, dismissed her expertise.”

Months passed. Darius carried on without answers, without relief, and without being listened to. When the truth finally came, it arrived in the coldest possible way: through an NHS app notification while he was alone at work.

Darius had stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma affecting his bones.

“This was the first time I became aware that I had cancer, in the worst possible way. It is difficult to describe the impact that reading this letter on my app had on me.”

Darius’s experience underlines several system issues that many medico-legal professionals will recognise: symptoms attributed to age or lifestyle without adequate review, professional disagreement not reconciled, and investigations not escalated despite red flags.