In Debbie’s own words: “On 22 February 2018, I was diagnosed with suspected stage 1 lung cancer at the Garden City Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa while on a family vacation. The S.A. lung specialist advised immediate biopsy by surgical intervention. As I have been contributing almost 35,000 Euro to the Spanish social security system since 2008 and had excellent treatment at the hospital in Fuerteventura previously, I had no hesitation in returning there immediately. I saw an internal medicine specialist at the beginning of March and gave her all medical reports from S.A.including a digital copy of the CAT scan which clearly showed the tumour and the lymph node activity. I was sent for some blood tests and spirometry tests and on April 11, I attended the Las Palmas bronchoscopy procedure. On May the Spanish specialist told me that there is no malignancy. She told me that I did not need further treatment nor were any follow up visits required, but to consult my GP as needed. At the beginning of July, my son Nik consulted one of friends, a U.K. NHS radiologist, who recommended immediate further investigation. I flew to London at the end of July and immediately consulted a thoracic surgeon. He did a PET scan, which confirmed that the cancer had affected the lymph nodes and had advanced to stage 3a. He advised immediate surgery and further treatment within 3 weeks. Because of the loss of faith and trust caused by the misdiagnosis, it was impossible for me to return to Spain even though I am fully insured and covered for any and all medical treatment. Because of the prohibitive cost of private medical treatment in the U.K. My son's family in law were able to arrange rapid and effective surgical intervention at Bajan hospital, Aurangabad, India.. The surgery (upper left lobectomy removing 2/3rds of my left lung) was successful and a chemotherapy treatment plan will be done, if this is required.”

Debbie now needs our help to cover her medical treatment. She has been a dear friend to many of us, let’s get her back to health!

I have set-up this page for Debbie and all funds will go to her!