A young man with terminal cancer said he was “not prepared” for the devastating news – after doctors suggested his symptoms could be growing pains.
Graeme Porter has Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that can occur in bone and surrounding tissues, and he is not sure how long he has left to live. He was just 19 and studying law at university when he was diagnosed after experiencing three symptoms: pain, weight loss and fatigue.
But despite struggling to sleep or sit because of the discomfort in his lower back, and losing up to four stone in just five weeks, doctors initially presumed he would eventually be okay
Posting on his TikTok page, Graeme, from Aberdeen, wrote: “Things Drs have told me which turned out to be cancer… Blood clot. Growing pain. Muscle pain. Kidney stones. Urine infection. Infection. Always get your symptoms checked. No matter how minor.”
Asked about how he felt being misdiagnosed, he told BristolLive: “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.”
And giving an example of what being misdiagnosed actually looks like, he added: “I went to A&E and was sent home. I thought I had blood in my vomit. They didn’t do a scan of my back when I told them I was in too much pain and they just focused on my chest where there was nothing there.”
Graeme said the pain he was enduring could be constant and that it ranged from mild to severe. According to medical experts, the number one symptom for people with Ewing tumours is pain in the affected area, and the rare cancer mostly affects people who are 10 to 20 years old.
He was eventually told of his heartbreaking diagnosis in June 2023 after a biopsy where Ewing sarcoma was found in his lower spine before it eventually spread to his lung. They also found a ten centimetre mass.
His parents broke in tears after learning it was incurable and Graeme, who has handled the news with remarkable resilience, had 14 cycles of chemotherapy. He also had six rounds of radiotherapy and he is now taking Ifosfamide, a chemotherapy drug that stops cancer cells dividing and growing.
The youngster now uses his platform on TikTok to spread positivity and to encourage people to get medical checkups. His friend also Lila started a GoFundMe to raise money so Graeme can fulfil his last wish.
She wrote: “Graeme loves to live life everyday and is so grateful for every single opportunity he is given. His last wish is to visit Australia, something he has always wanted to do but unfortunately health insurance prices are making this challenging. Any donations to make this possible would be so gratefully appreciated by Graeme & his family.”
You can make a donation to the GoFundMe her, to help make his last wish come true