Cornish man died after headache turned out to be rare cancer

File picture of the Royal Cornwall Hospital

A young man suffering with headaches and sinus pain actually had a rare type of blood cancer, an inquest has heard. Douglas Walker, 35, known as Doug, passed away just three months after the first signs of him being unwell.

The otherwise fit and healthy Newquay man, who worked as an IT technician, had visited his GP on April 26, 2023, where he reported having headaches for a fortnight and a suspected sinus infection. Initially given antibiotics, by May 5 he was admitted to Royal Cornwall Hospital with a fever and headache.

Here he was treated appropriately for sepsis but further investigations diagnosed him with a progressive, rare form of leukemia called adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Despite feeling better after his first round of chemotherapy, he died while admitted to Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro from a rare gastrointestinal complication associated with the treatment.

An inquest held at Cornwall’s Coroners” Court in Truro on Wednesday, February 21, heard how Doug was deemed a “high risk” patient due to his presentation from the beginning. Bryson Pottinger, consultant hematologist at Royal Cornwall Hospital, said nothing more could have been done to have saved Doug’s life and that intensive chemotherapy was the correct course given his prognosis.

He said GPs will see hundreds of patients presenting the same or similar symptoms each day to the initial symptoms of Doug’s, many of whom will have never had a case of AML on their hands.

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He added that if the blood test that diagnosed him with the AML was carried out on the first visit to the GP, it may have meant doctors were a week ahead of dealing with the case. But he described it as a “rapidly progressive” type of leukemia for which events progressed much more quickly than doctors would usually expect.

Charlotte Kane, Doug’s long-term partner, gave a lengthy statement describing his partner’s treatment history. She said he had been “so brave” throughout although he was finding going in for the second round of chemotherapy difficult as he was feeling much better in himself prior to this.

She described how Doug was struggling with his bowel movements in the days leading up to his death which prompted him to make the instinctive decision to eat less solid foods. She felt that due to these issues a bowel scan should have been conducted sooner to identify what was causing him to be unwell but the doctors felt the symptoms were a result of antibiotics he was taking.

Ms Kane said in her statement that the care and support given to she and Doug “was overall incredible” although she had questions. She explained Doug was unable to eat much more than toast and fruit throughout his treatment but had perked up in the days leading up to his death.

On August 6, he started to feel better and ate a panini which was the most he had eaten since his first admission. “It was when he started eating that things started to go rapidly down hill,” she said, explaining that he was noticeably better and had managed a gammon roast the next day.

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He was feeling so much better that he told her to go home that night but things then took a turn for the worst. Later that evening she received a text message saying his temperature had risen and things had started to go downhill again so she returned. She said no bowel scan was ordered and she felt it should have been.

“Doug was shivering and cold despite his very high temperature,” she continued, saying the care they received throughout his battle was “on the whole superb” but she wanted to raise some concerns in case they were able to help other patients and families in the future. He passed away on August 10.

Mr Pottinger, addressing some of Ms Kane’s concerns, said Doug already had an infected, inflamed bowel so he didn’t think diet changes would have helped by that point. He added that his symptoms were a known side effect of other factors including the antibiotics being given so there was nothing that would led doctors to believe the symptoms weren’t a result of this.

Finally, he told Ms Kane and her family how attached the team were to Doug, saying they were all very saddened by his death and had done everything they could to save him despite a poor looking presentation.

Emma Hillson, assistant coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, concluded that Doug had died from typhlitus, a recognised complication associated with the necessary treatment of chemotherapy. She said: “It is unlikely that an earlier diagnosis in the given timeline would have altered the outcome in this case.”