Man spent seven years getting treatment for incurable cancer despite never having disease

Good Morning Britain covered the insane story of Simon Pearson today (June 5), with reporter Faye Barker revealing how he'd spent seven years incorrectly believing he had an incurable form of cancer.

Back in 2018, the father and husband was informed by doctors at Nuneaton's George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust that his rare blood cancer could even be passed on to his sons in the future.

He endured 'dozens of procedures' in the intervening years, but in 2025, Pearson learned that this horrific diagnosis was actually a mistake.

"Everything went blurry," he recalled of the moment he heard the news.

"I couldn't really take it in and [there] was a lot of questions that I had - 'I can't get my head around this' - and I actually sat in the car after and rang my wife and just cried.

"Half of that is happiness and half of that is confusion."

Also interviewed by GMB was his wife, Rachel, who works as a hospice nurse.

Sharing her mixed emotions on the disorienting matter, she told Barker: "As a nurse I'm angry, I'm really angry. How did this get through? Why was it not checked?

"As a wife, it's amazing. You know, I've got Simon for a lot longer to annoy..."

The George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust has since apologised to the family, confirming it's investigated what went wrong in the first place and addressed the issues to ensure it never happens again.

A consultant clinical oncologist named Professor Pat Price told the ITV show: "I think it's important that patients, if they're worried, they talk to their doctors about this and get that good communication going.

"It is quite rare but I can't say it never happens at all."

Pearson himself hopes that the hospital 'understands it's caused pain' and that it can't allow a repeat misdiagnosis of this magnitude.

His wife revealed they're now living in a state of YOLO (You Only Live Once).

"Like, let's just go out and do it!" she smiled. "Should we go and do that holiday? Yep let's do it, let's make the most of everything."

As you'd expect, social media was awash with aghast responses to this years-long medical mishap.

One incensed X user went on to write: "I was told I had cancer when (thank God) I didn't. My mate was told same, endured months of treatment & told terminal. Gave up job, sank into depression & started smoking drugs THEN was told they had made a mistake - he never had cancer in 1st place. Destroyed him."

"Surely someone must be held accountable?" asked another.

A third person insinuated that the Pearsons should seek legal revenge on the institution.

"He goes on about how the doctors apologised to him for getting it so wrong. No way would I be accepting a cheap apology," they tweeted.