A 27-year-old father of two from the UK died of cancer months after he had to beg for an MRI scan amid a slowdown during the coronavirus crisis. Sherwin Hall, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, died on Dec. 3, following an illness that began more than a year earlier. Hall first began experiencing groin pain in September 2019 that subsided and re-emerged in January and was given antibiotics both times, he wrote on a GoFundMe page back in May. He thought he was feeling better, but then the pain returned with a vengeance in March, when he experienced pain in his right leg and buttock, and a hard lump by his rectum, he wrote. He returned to the hospital, where doctors were convinced he had a sexually transmitted infection. It didnt matter that I told them I couldnt have an STI, he wrote. They were so convinced that I might have one that I began to believe it myself and started thinking maybe I had picked it up from sitting on a public toilet. I had so many blood tests and swabs. They were all clear. Meanwhile, the pain was so bad that I kept going back to the hospital, begging for a scan to see what was wrong.
Then another doctor assumed he had prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate gland, and prescribed antibiotics once again. I told them I thought they were wrong, but no one would listen, Hall wrote. I did my own research and knew it was something else. I kept begging them in April and May to give me an MRI scan, but no one would listen. Both my GP and my consultant told me that I couldnt get a scan because scanning services were slowed down because of the coronavirus. By this time, my pain was so excruciating and I felt so unwell and so exhausted that I was almost suicidal. On May 26 several months after first experiencing symptoms Hall was finally given the scan, which revealed a 5.5-inch mass in his pelvis, he said. He also had 30 lung tumors, the Sun reported. When Hall died, his son, Sancho, whom he shares with wife LaTroya Hall, was only 9 months old, the Daily Mail reported. I am devastated. I have lost the love of my life, Hall said in a statement. If Sherwins cancer had been found earlier, it is likely he would still be here today. He would want me to do everything I can to prevent other families suffering as we have. It worries me that the Government and NHS leaders continue to say cancer services are back to normal, she said. Our familys experience has been that, even now, this is simply not the case.