The remarkable story of patient Kayla Pennington was one of the highlights of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals’ 16th Upper GI Study Day at Barton Manor, organised by the Rosemere Cancer Education Hub and Trust Upper GI surgeons.
In late 2022, Kayla, store manager of Bispham Tesco Express, began getting chronic hiccups whenever she ate, which only subsided when she drank water.
She began to struggle with swallowing, and, feeling something was not quite right, she saw her GP, who referred Kayla to Blackpool Victoria Hospital a few days before Christmas.
Following an endoscopy, Kayla, aged 37 at the time, was told by the consultant that she had a large tumour and he believed it was oesophageal cancer, which is unusual in someone so young.
As Kayla said: “I’ll never forget the look on his face – the consultant knew it was cancer but was also slightly confused because of my age, I don’t think he expected it because it’s unusual. It was awful – I remember thinking ‘did he actually say that?’ and going home to my friend saying it was cancer. It was all a bit overwhelming and went very fast from there.”
Kayla started chemotherapy at Blackpool at the turn of 2023, after the difficult task of telling her daughter Frankie the news: “Frankie is so resilient, she stayed with my best friend, who told her she needed to talk to her about mummy, and Frankie said, ‘Mummy’s going to be fine, she’s got her big girl pants on!’ She’s really positive, it wasn’t an issue, she’s been incredible, for nine years old. She held my head when I was sick, she’s made breakfast, laid next to me when I was in so much pain from chemo, she’s helped me get dressed, telling me I was still beautiful without my hair – she’s been amazing.”
Following chemotherapy, Kayla had surgery at Royal Preston Hospital, which involved removing the tumour and creating a new oesophagus and stomach, which involved deflating one lung. After nine hours in theatre, there were complications as she developed ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) and spent over three weeks in critical care at Royal Preston.
And she said: “Dr Jeremy Ward was my surgeon, he was incredible. I felt really sick and was in critical care on a ventilator. He came to see me quite often and checked on me. Everyone was incredible, and there’s no way he could have done it on his own, but he was the one person I really remember seeing and being involved.
“He was a really important part of my care. The nurses were incredible as well, but he was the one face who was most consistent. I wouldn’t be here today without him, and my daughter wouldn’t have her mum, without him and his team. The work they do is incredible, and I can’t thank them enough, I’ve said it thousands of times, I’ll never forget it and I’ll always be grateful.”
Kayla was discharged 11 days after moving out of critical care and is now cancer free and back at work.
Her advice is simple: “I know there aren’t many early warning signs for this type of cancer, and it has poor outcomes but get yourself checked as soon as you can - the earlier the better.
“I was really lucky, it was a bit of a whirlwind, but I’m trying to help people understand that, actually, if anything at all doesn’t feel normal, get checked. I was very positive, that’s my character, I’m very determined, strong, outgoing, confident, and I believe a positive mindset helps, if you genuinely believe you want to get better, it goes a long way to helping you achieve that.
“Everyone plays a part, the district nurses coming out, the surgeons, the anaesthetists, everyone did so much, the GI team at Blackpool – Preston did all my surgery and Upper GI work, but Blackpool rang me, checked in on my daughter and they were incredible. I don’t think people really appreciate how much the NHS does until you really need them.”
An upper GI series is a procedure in which a doctor uses x-rays, fluoroscopy, and a chalky liquid called barium to view your upper GI tract - the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, and first part of the small intestine.
The Upper GI study day has been conducted annually since 2009 after the centralisation of upper GI cancer services to Preston.
The study day covered topics including Role of the ACP (advanced clinical practitioners) in GI Cancer; Upper GI Cancer CNS (clinical nurse specialists) Role; Research Studies in GI Cancer; Prehabilitation; Preop Assessment; Role of Radiologist in GI Cancer and Immunotherapy.
Vinutha Shetty, Consultant General Surgeon, Upper GI, said: “This was yet another successful education event covering various aspects of upper GI cancer diagnosis and treatment. The event was well attended by healthcare workers from all domains, and as always received excellent feedback.
“Our key speakers included surgeons, (Kish Pursnani, Ioannis Sarantitis, Oncologist – Dr Catherine Mitchell, Radiologist - Dr Robert Stockwell, Pathologist – Dr Beena Nair Anaesthetist - Dr Sangeeta Sharma, Physiotherapist- Susan Saul, and specialist upper GI nurses - Marie King and Alana Greenlees. The sessions were chaired by Jeremy Ward, Paul Turner and myself. Our guest speakers were GASSUP patient support group representative David Critchley and our cancer patient Kayla Pennington who spoke on her personal experience. Their talks help us to improve our cancer services to deliver a patient-centred personalised care.”
Trust Cancer Education Manager, Lyndsay Wiggans, added: “We are very grateful that staff in our area have access to these free education events, which have been supported by the Rosemere Cancer Education Hub for the last six years. We’re really lucky to have the education hub, which provides free cancer education to the cancer workforce across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
“Thank you also to Kayla for sharing her remarkable story – we learn so much from patient experience.”
