Bone cancer website is welcomed by Thackley mum (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Mother of victim says charity’s pages will provide support to families

6:00am Thursday 7th October 2010 in News By Claire Lomax

Stephen Ferrey

A mother who lost her son to bone cancer is calling for a greater awareness of the symptoms of the devastating disease, particularly among health professionals.

Susan Ferrey, of Thackley, has spoken out to support Bone Cancer Awareness Week in memory of her son Stephen, who died aged 20, after battling osteosarcoma.

Stephen’s first symptom was a pain in his knee, which was initially diagnosed as a pulled muscle and he underwent three weeks of physiotherapy.

It was only when he went back to his GP in extreme pain that he was eventually referred for an x-ray and the life-threatening cancer was diagnosed at the age of 17.

His mother believes the eight-week delay in diagnosis enabled the cancer to spread to his lungs and his spine and eventually cause his death.

“My son died on September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11, aged 20 and to this day I do not know whether all the delays cost my son his life,” she said.

“If I’m honest I tend to think it did and I blame myself for relying on doctors and physios to know what was wrong with my son, when quite clearly they didn’t.”

Mrs Ferrey is supporting the launch of the Bone Cancer Research Trust’s new website which aims to help young people and their families as they come to terms with dealing with a life-threatening diagnosis.

It will contain a wealth of information which has been reviewed by a panel which included medical experts, patients and their families to ensure that it is accurate, meets the needs of bone cancer patients and the language is clear and easy to understand. Mrs Ferrey said: “This is the type of information that we would have loved to have had when Stephen was diagnosed as we found it hard to find information.

“As a family we felt so alone as there weren’t many people that we could talk to.

“The support network on the website will be brilliant for families of people with bone cancer, as they can get in contact with people who know what they are going through and understand how they feel.”

Bone cancer is often diagnosed late, as the pains associated with it are often attributed to growing pains.

More research is needed into bone cancer to reduce the delays in diagnosis and improve survival.

There has been no improvement in survival for people with bone cancer in more than 20 years and so the Bone Cancer Research Trust believes that new effective treatments are urgently needed.

To view the website go to bcrt.org.uk.