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A mom in England is speaking up after doctors misdiagnosed her cancer. Kim Oakhill believed that the symptoms she was experiencing were typical signs of aging. Even her doctors believed that she was going through menopause. But after continuous treatment, nothing seemed to change. In fact, new symptoms started to emerge. Each time she went back to her doctors, they diagnosed her with a series of other illnesses. Eventually, they figured out what was going on with her: she had lung cancer. Now, she is quite literally fighting for her life.
Her symptoms didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
In an exclusive interview with People, Oakhill said that she began experiencing night sweats, extreme fatigue and poor sleep, as well as leg pain that was mostly in her knee. When she went to see doctors in late 2022/early 2023, they put her on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
“I went back to the menopause nurse a few times as my symptoms hadn’t improved,” she explained. By February 2024, she was “still struggling and decided the HRT was not helping so stopped using it.”
When she went back to her doctor in December of that year, she added dizzy spells to her list of symptoms. “I had [a] blood test but nothing showed up,” she said. When she went back to the doctor in May 2025, she “was coughing and had breathlessness.”
“Over the next three months, I was given medication for acid reflux, treated for asthma, treated with two different antibiotics for apparent chest infections after an X-Ray,” she said.
After a CT scan in July 2025, she was diagnosed with stage four non-small cell lung cancer.
Despite her diagnosis, Oakull had never been a smoker. “It is incredibly important to me to spread the word that if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer even if you don’t smoke and whatever your age,” she told the outlet.
Oakhill’s cancer is advanced and inoperable, and she believes there’s a “stigma,” which means that people may not get diagnosed until it’s too late. Cancer like her “can go undetected as the symptoms are generic and there are no nerve endings inside the lungs,” she explained. She also believes it “needs to be considered in patients presenting with the generic symptoms, including non-smokers, whatever their age.”
“If I can stop even just one person going through what I am going through it will be a win,” she said.
Now, she is receiving treatment with her husband and three kids by her side. “One of my children wants to know all the details and plans. Another one is doing everything he can to fundraise. The other one is constantly checking in on me to see how I am,” she said.
Her friends started a fundraiser for her treatment.
“Some people spend their lives lifting others up, never asking for anything in return,” the fundraiser, which is being done through the site JustGiving, says.
According to the fundraiser, “due to a rare genetic mutation,” the targeted cancer treatment most likely to help Oakhill isn’t available through the U.K.’s NHS. “After exhausting standard treatment options, private funding is now her only pathway forward,” the fundraiser explained.
Oakhill’s friends, who are the ones organizing the fundraiser, said that the main goal of treatment is to give her “one precious thing: time.” They said that her “heartbreakingly simple” dream is to see all three of her children graduate from university.
“Asking for help does not come naturally to someone who has spent her life giving back. Now, we have an opportunity to give back to her,” the fundraiser said. “Please help us give Kim the greatest gift possible — more time.”
Speaking to People about the fundraiser, Oakhill couldn’t contain her appreciation. “I am humbled by the donations; people have been so kind, supportive and generous,” she said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
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