As much as doctors strive to identify concerns and treat patients accordingly, medical mistakes happen. Clerical errors can, unfortunately, have adverse effects. But few errors measure up to one a Texas mom of two recently experienced.
Lisa Monk, from College Station, Texas, was diagnosed with a rare and fatal form of cancer in 2023. After undergoing two rounds of chemotherapy, her doctor's office noticed a shocking oversight: She never had cancer to begin with. Let's take a closer look at the troubling situation.
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It all started in 2022 when Monk went to the hospital for stomach pains.
In 2022, Monk, 39, went to a hospital because of stomach pains, suspecting she had kidney stones, the Daily Mail reported. Testing showed two kidney stones and a mass on her spleen. In January 2023, Monk successfully underwent surgery to remove the mass.
Pathology results revealed she had a rare form of cancer.
Monk's spleen was reportedly sent to four different pathology labs. Results revealed she had a terminal form of cancer, clear cell angiosarcoma, the Mirror reported.
“It was a blood vessel type of cancer found in the spleen and told me that the most optimistic thing he could say was to give me 15 months,” Monk said in a video, per the New York Post.
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Monk began 'aggressive' chemotherapy treatment.
In March 2023, Monk started her first round of chemo, causing her to lose her hair. A second round of treatment resulted in her vomiting and her having "silvery skin."
“It was a very dark time," she said, reported New York Post. "I was writing goodbye letters and letters to the grandchildren I would never meet and the weddings I would never attend.”
At a routine hospital appointment, she learned shocking news.
In April 2023, Monk went to a routine hospital checkup, where a nurse practitioner discovered shocking news.
“All of a sudden she just stops talking and has this look on her face. She turned to me and looked completely horrified and told me she needed to get the doctor and then ran out of the room," Monk recalled, reported the Mirror. "She left me alone for about 15 minutes and the doctor came back in. He said a lot of medical lingo to me and then told me I didn’t have cancer.”
Actually, Monk never had cancer. The doctor reportedly congratulated her instead of apologizing for the mistake.
“At the time I was in shock but now I feel the more appropriate response would be 'I’m sorry,'" she said.
A year later, her family is still coping financially and emotionally.
Not only is Monk's family still paying medical bills, but they continue to work through the emotional toll of a terminal cancer diagnosis.
"I’m angry. They ruined my health and my insides are cooked,” Monk shared, per the Daily Mail.
She added, “I grieve for my kids for having to even go through something like this in their lives where they thought they were going to lose their mom. I can’t take this away from them. I know on paper it only looks like a few months of my life but it felt like a lifetime.”
