Man, 20, had symptoms dismissed by doctor as ‘growing pains’ before being diagnosed with shock terminal cancer
A man who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer was told by doctors that he had all sorts of other health issues before they found the true cause of his pain.
Law student Graeme Porter was at Edinburgh University when he started suffering from pain, fatigue and significant weight loss.
He lost four stone in about five weeks and had a pain in his lower back which made sleeping difficult, but when the Aberdeen lad sought a medical opinion he was told he could be suffering from all sorts of things before doctors finally diagnosed him with Ewing sarcoma.
Graeme has set up a TikTok page where he told his viewers all the things doctors said they thought he had which turned out to be cancer.
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He'd been told he might be suffering from growing pains, muscle pain, a blood clot, kidney stones and a urine infection, and given that it turned out to be cancer he urged people to 'always get your symptoms checked no matter how minor'.
Speaking to BristolLive about his misdiagnosis, the 20-year-old said: "I think looking back on it with my personal experience, it is easy to say it was a misjudgement.
“However, with the amount of young people having cancer being low, especially in such a small city, I don’t think saying it’s cancer should be the first response.
"However, I do think it should be on the cards as a background thought or check, just to be safe.”
Graeme explained that he once went to A&E because he thought he had blood in his vomit and had his chest scanned, but doctors 'didn't do a scan of my back' when he told them he was in pain.
He was eventually diagnosed with cancer in June 2023 at the age of 19, and in February 2024 after 14 cycles of intensive chemotherapy and six weeks of radiotherapy he was able to ring the bell to signal his cancer was in remission.
Sadly several months later he suffered from chest pains and in October 2024 he was told the cancer had spread to his lungs and couldn't be cured.
As such he's wanting to use the time he's got to do the things he enjoys most and a GoFundMe, which you can donate to here, has been set up to raise money for Graeme so he can fulfil his dream of visiting Australia.
The GoFundMe says that Graeme has been on palliative chemotherapy since December to shrink his cancer but it won't ever completely go away.
On his TikTok he's also spreading some positive messages to those who come and view his content, with Graeme's fans saying he's an 'amazing' person.
He also recently sent a message to The Chase asking if he could be on the show to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust.
Joe Harker