The second extract I have picked describes my frustration at the amount of time it took for doctors and medical professionals to listen to me, and take my stomach complaints seriously - it took almost two years to get a diagnosis. From talking to other teen cancer patients over the last ten years I have found this to be a common problem, and devastatingly, as a result, teens are often diagnosed too late despite repeated visits to their GPs and local hospitals. After ten years, the situation doesn't seem to have improved much, and this is one of the main reasons I wanted to write the book. I wanted to raise the point that no one knows your body better than you do, and when a medic is telling you that you are wrong, especially at such a young age, it is not only exhausting and frustrating, but extremely patronising. The arrogance of some doctors I have come across is staggering, and so I hope this particular extract from the book, taken from the chapter 'As It Was In The Beginning', helps to highlight the fact that although cancer in teens is rare, it is certainly not as rare as many doctors seem to think.
Too Long To Wait
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