A Couple's Cancer Journey - 24 Hours in A&E - S16 EP01 - Medical Documentary

the world might feel a bit more  chaotic and a bit more divided [Music] it's easy to forget sometimes  that there are constants your home's still your home your family's still  your family and all the structures of our society are still there to look after you if you need it  here we go adult male code red trauma 10 minutes there's been an explosion on a building site  heart rate 200. Open Your Eyes Open Your Eyes imagine having to work here hello Annie can  I help St George's London it's all go

ing to kick off now one of Britain's busiest a e  departments are we ready to roll carry on CPI it's me it's all happening to  fix that or if you won't survive what is it oh a place where life would you say  I was fit doctor honestly I think I'm quite fit love you are my everything I love you and it's  okay and loss oh Mom awesome story unfold every single day for every bad thing that you see  there is something equally wonderful out there filmed across one 24-hour period these are the  stories

of a nation and it's Health Service you thought I was gonna die you're definitely  not going to die you've got too many good doctors and nurses here when people experience  really significant illness or injuries we see people pull together we see relationships get  stronger and we see people reflect on what really is the most important things in their life  whatever happens it's gonna be okay I love you [Music] hello St George's recess yeah yeah DW right thanks [Music] a 70 year old  cancer pati

ent is being rushed to Saint George's she was discharged from hospital  yesterday after undergoing an emergency operation but has deteriorated overnight  model priority ETA three minutes [Music] [Music] nurse Georgina is assisting the medical team so some patients with cancer will be more  prone to infections and that's because they have very low immunity Lads you're about  to get busy in my experience people die from complications from their cancers can be  there their cancer is overwhelming bu

t often is as a result of infection that they become  too poorly to cope with them anymore [Music] the woman's husband is traveling with her  in the ambulance [Music] you could tell just by looking at her she was just um on  her normal self her breathing was terrible feeling sick it just kept getting worse  and worse she was so awful so lifeless and welcome [Music] sweets up good girl brilliant oh no hello  hi my name is emergency doctors hi this is Mario my name is okay um in recent diagnosis 

of lung cancer fixing the left side at the moment no treatment no oncology treatments  okay but she has had a recent admission here okay uh we've built up some fluid on the  left line where they drained a blow the fluid and when was that she was discharged  yesterday and arrived home at 1900 hours since then she's cold flushes being part of that  sick okay on the left side of her chest sure she also felt very nauseous and advantage of two  episodes of vomiting okay patience okay thank you okay C

T says give me a sharp scratching  him and stay nice and still yes of course you can we'll just get your blood test  done and I'll call him in sorry Danny often when people have chest strains taken  out we're particularly worried about sepsis patients can have big complications from  sepsis and some will die from sepsis okay feel free to take a seat  bringing over a chair for you now okay well I was devastated because I couldn't I couldn't do anything [Music] just some salty water doctors are co

ncerned that cancer patient Marion  may have developed sepsis after a recent operation [Music] [Music] you so well when you come out hello my name is one of the emergency doctors  what I'm going to do is quickly examine you we'll also get a chest x-ray to see you  know if there's anything going on okay foreign all over the left side  or it's at the back as well with a depressing kind of a paint  stabbing kind of a pain a sharp pain a stubborn pain okay she's going to  have a look at your yeah ah

here here I don't feel any abscess or any infection locally  but it could still be deep seated we really do not know but to be safe then sorry I've just started  you on antibiotics okay the only thing is I just want to make sure it's not a heart attack but  it's all related to alarm yeah okay yeah that's what I have in the back of my mind okay okay we  will have a look at your blood test reports and have a look at the chat and we'll take it  from there okay oh come on yeah oh gosh I I met Mario

n in a disco my cousins had said  would you like to meet a girl so I said she comes from the Avon estate and um in she came  she had a leather jacket on and a skirt high heel shoes and yeah she looked very nice we was  mods mods used to be um very smart yeah I used to wear Hush Puppy shoes and uh a green corduroy  trousers I don't think we actually dance at even I think we just sat pretty opposite each other you  know and uh you know I thought about a tiger home do you mind getting a bedside a c

hest  x-ray well cubicle number two please with me and Marine first started going  out together I had a scooter I think what really got us interested in each  other is when I was told by a cousin um Marion was on the back of another scooter and  so I I said to her work you know you better choose which you want me or him she denied it of course we're looking better it's good yeah yeah it's  such a shy man who used to he was doing so well last night it was just back to your old self  Mary's family

were quite well off compared with my family the Terrace house we lived in it was very  cramped we lived upstairs and uh one lady lived downstairs we had two bedrooms so I shared with my  two sisters and we had a kitchen and that was it I was an engineer he was saying to me when  you'd like to do this and we'd like to do that I said no I'm perfectly happy where I  am I think he thought I was a bit Rough and Ready so I think he was encouraging me to  better myself but um I wasn't really into bed

with myself at all I was going to sit for a  bit of hardboard under your back it's cold yeah with you guys we began to give up you know quite a few years  but then we decided that we would get married oh gosh more beefing beeping sorry so we asked  Mary is dead but um I don't think he was happy he was very very strict with her I think he  wanted someone a bit better for her than me still grab one more thing sweetie you want to come back on mommy's lap  yeah come on then oh it's a steady cook fiv

e-year-old Layla has been brought to a e by her  mum Clarissa after cutting her head open at school of course I know everyone's calling me I feel  like it wasn't so long ago that I was Layla's age and often I can put myself in her shoes she's  picked up little things from me I am quite clumsy silly sausage already one of Layla's little  friends came to me and said Layla's bleeding which because she was quite calm about it  I thought was probably fine but ran out and later was just walking toward

s me with half  her face covered in blood it really freaked me out I think they were running around and she  tripped and went into the corner of the table just got a nurse coming over to give it a  clean and then they'll take me into triage Layla has got a really serious side if she hears  things on the knees she repeat and she'll say isn't that true that that's a very bad thing to  do mummy sometimes I have to remind her you are five you're not you know you are a little bit of  a big girl but y

ou're not a big woman yet like it's okay to not worry so much about everything I  definitely think she probably gets out from me I am overprotective obviously she is my only baby  oh yeah yeah come hello there hello my name is Priyanka and you can call me pre I'm the doctor  looking after you how are you doing good so I'm gonna ask you to do some silly silly stuff but  it's just to make sure that you're all right okay I don't want Layla to follow in my footsteps can  I ask you to squeeze my fing

ers for me as tight as you can oh my God that's killing my hands  okay fine I had a turbulent time growing up I fell in with the wrong crowd just keep following  my finger this was when gang culture was on the rise and murders and things like that were  happening I did start you know learning behaviors and stuff and bringing them home there  was always some sort of issue that I was creating but it actually touched his finger that's  it cheers my mum wanted me to get a good education so that I co

uld go to UNI and get a  good job but I was just messing everything up it was cool to not listen in school you know  to backtrack teachers to walk out of classrooms to be disrespectful I wasn't thinking about the  future I wasn't thinking about what's best for me is any pain when I touch here it is and then  I got pregnant and I'm like no no no I can't be pregnant I can't can't be pregnant I was  terrified it seems to be just a little bit of a cut so there's a number of things we can  do and but

it depends on how far the tissue is separated it may be that we can try to glue  it back together but the other thing is you might put to put some stitches in there we'll  let the Plastics team see and see what they would like to do all right all right I'll  be right back thank you thank you foreign okay I know how to get rid of your hiccups  hang on I'll come and do it with you you're eating penis on my head my Foundation night  concentrate am I being infiltrated into a cult no laughs what wha

t did you just I wrote your name and  it stopped there it comes it works every time that is amazing yeah there we go you  learned something new yeah again I love that I always wanted to work in health ever  since I was very very little I thought that being a doctor was very important so I started  working in a care home when I was about 16. I quickly realized that I didn't like the  doctor's role I liked what the nurses in the care home were doing and I saw those moments  of human care and human

kindness thanks so much the way they looked after our patients and I  saw the impact they made and I thought it was brilliant gonna give it through the drip in the  arm it can make you feel a bit Spacey that's okay I've got arthritis and I'd have slightly  bristle opponents of other people found out that I had arthritis I was really  crossed I found that really annoying I was 24 it seemed stupid that someone was telling  me there was something that couldn't be completely fixed sugar yeah a spon

ge one  sugar and can I tell you to a Vicky oh oh I know and then I realized that actually in  the great scheme of things what I have wrong is nothing in comparison to what our patients  go through it's all right I do have an extra an expert and what other patients go  through especially when the red fingers [Music] JoJo's recess medical trauma please loss  of consciousness and your ETA thank you very much three-year-old man is being rushed to  Saint George's after falling from his roof and land

ing on concrete  well tropical ETA 15 minutes 83 year old upper ladder I  know right what does he do now anesthetist Dr Jonathan is on shift in recess I'm always a bit more concerned when it's an  elderly patient their body is more susceptible to sustaining major injuries their bones may  break more easily and they're less able to mitigate the risk of deteriorating [Music] man's  wife is traveling with him to the hospital Roy had noticed that on our roof there had been a lot of  Boss Gathering a

nd he decided he wanted to clear that and went into the garden and I immediately  knew something was terribly wrong there was a ladder that had been broken quite a lot of  blood on the ground and he was just not himself hello are you the trauma uh number three please [Music] I think this is all the staff  we have yep okay this is foreign [Music] went out saw him in quite a confused State  he has landed heavily on his right shoulder of quite a big laceration on the actual  joint itself he's got p

aint right up a quadrant to his thoracic and it's very  painful about fashion and inspiration our primary focus is to make sure  that any life-threatening injuries are assessed and dealt with as quickly  as possible that's a quick look at your pupils one of the injuries where  can be most concerned about are spinal injuries particularly the neck that  could lead to Major disability or paralysis any pain in your neck so so when people fall  over particularly if you've got pain anywhere else somet

imes you don't notice that you've  got pain in your neck and the last thing we want to do is end up with you being paralyzed  or anything like that what we're going to need to do is get some scans so we'll scan you from  head to toe just to check whether there's any bleeding internally where there's any damage  internally then we can take it from there [Music] Roy has been such a strong dominant  creature of our marriage [Music] 58 years of my life it's everything you only know the full extent o

f  what you've heard when you've lost it [Music] we're just gonna slide you over  onto the CT scanner one two three 83 year old Roy is being given an urgent CT  scan after he fell from his roof at home hi Roy my name's Alex if you're doing your skin okay  do I have any kidney problems heart problems allergies perfect [Music] and then my stepfather decided to  return so he went to Rhodesia in Africa she became Zimbabwe ather and hold your  breath it was a beautiful beautiful place there were a lo

t of snakes chameleons  chunga lilies we call them beautiful birds I met drawing Salisbury it's a capital city  it was my first public dance we were dancing quite happily in this ballroom and suddenly  Roy stepped out he was very academic looking very good looking actually  difficult to carry on after that yeah it's proper but that's it how's that I  was particular particulars innocent I didn't pick up the Vibes you know poor Roy when  I looked back on it he really struggled he had a funny old c

ar with a leather seat and  he took me for a drive and I couldn't believe that he was turning the corners so sharply and I  was hanging onto the door and trying not to slide towards him and he thought that was hilariously  funny he'd got me at last where he wanted me the wedding day was lovely I was very nervous  to unsure myself but Roy was very confident yes it was a happy day okay  and I all finished there we go I've got an Anne here Roy she's  coming I've just said I'm sorry I just kept Roy

in the collar for now it's waiting for us to CT scan hello how are you  doing it's okay another word it is [Music] I'm just going to take some blood tests  whilst we wait to get your scan sorted when our first child was born when I was 23. and then 18 months later we had our second  chart oh it was wonderful really wonderful there's a brother Roy came into full strengths  all his abilities he was really remarkable with the girls okay A bit of a Sharp scratch coming  up seeing them grew and devel

op and change and just magical really it was a very free  innocent childhood you're nice and still but then this new white government  with its radical ideas came in okay and that was a moment as they see in  history which changed everything for us hello [Music] [Music] where where are you now  honey are you on a bus all right yeah yeah and what if you've got for me then  is it is it still wrapped up they're going to have a word with you you're a very naughty  boy I thought about you can you hea

r me yeah you're a very naughty boy that  conversation last night very very naughty boy you have to start to prove yourself  now I'm going to keep you at your word I'm gonna have to spank you yes that's right that  oh you bite you wait till I see you give me what oh is it enough for one of those promises  treat you later honey love you lots bye I'll tell you what I've got  [Music] can I see a smile now I thought you wouldn't mind that Layla is  waiting to be seen by a plastic surgeon after cutti

ng her head open at school  hi Leila and so tell me what happened it was a table oh no it was the table all right who's there is it really sore is it all right  let's do water yeah it's water they all quite right to be suspicious how sore is it is  it horrible or is it bearable horrible okay it's not what I'm trying to assess  is the depth because the only the halfway house option is that we  put some steri strips over it yeah and bring the edges together I met Lola's dad on  Facebook but I was

like oh you know he's cute let me add him as a friend 20 super young there's  a million things that you're thinking about going out and meeting your friends and what's for  dinner and you know baby is not part of the plan I think if I have a go here and now at getting  some steri strips across it which bring the edges together yeah so why do we do that why don't  we see if we can get it pretty good yeah yeah I was terrified but I was very adamant that I was  gonna have her because it was time to

start taking responsibility how holding her for the first time  was the absolute best feeling in the world you've got lovely long eyelashes fabulous I loved it  I loved the baby phase I loved breastfeeding I loved getting up in the night in cuddles and it  completely changed me as a person why yeah wow and you're doing so well this is fabulous growing  up I didn't really have a plan that's completely changed Layla came along and it gave me purpose  all right I was just cutting the uh the ends s

o I am a teaching assistant I have been in this  job for about two years now can be challenging but definitely definitely enjoying it and definitely  works really well with Layla going to the same school as well let's see how you get on with  that all right so you can look like a bit of a ninja Soldier and I think that has made a bit  of a difference so I think we've just brought it together I doubted myself so much growing up and  I I don't want her to be anything like that I want her to go and

do something that I haven't done go  and do something really amazing make me proud and make yourself proud so you're going to look out  for those dangerous tables in the future yeah good just don't do yeah don't do everything that  I did [Laughter] better now you're a star we've got one more medicine here to have an  antibiotic for your chest Marion is being treated with antibiotics doctors suspect she may have  developed sepsis following an operation yesterday myself been going out together fo

r quite a few  years and we've always said that we would get married one day well done Mary's day to there's no  way she's going to get married not until she's 21. I was a bit hurt we've been together all these  years and we're steady and why would you stop us getting married but it was something that  he did so we got married on his 21st birthday we had all our friends here yeah we had a great  sign a lovely cake you know that was a beginning did you want a blanket um warm  as it is your glasse

s are misting up if you say warm you've got some  condensing on this side here [ __ ] up our first house was in knowledge  Road just off of Summerstown there was rubbish in the garden there was um  doors missing and the roof leaked around you sir help out doing the decorating and clearing  and shoveling away all the rubble on it she was a pregnant at that time with our second child  and money was very tight everything worked out have a little sleep you need your rest we were very happy our way t

hrough till  now really and then all of a sudden things just change I don't know you can never  be prepared for a life the way it treats you feeling that you get when you see someone you love um sort of time [Music] just uh as I say I was um go poly [Music] [Music] thank you Roy is awaiting the results of his scan after falling from his roof  at home and they're all shiny oh Dr Jonathan now has the full report of Roy's CT  scan okay you've got a couple of small fractures in your ribs oh really s

o right third rib which  is about there and the seventh which is about kind of bearish but they're not kind of all over  the place but that means I'm happy to remove this collar and then we'll be able to set you up so  just look straight ahead for me let's remove this there was no segregation the Africans were being  better educated and wanting to be prominent in the country and how it's run good but then this  new government came in and things really did change right back to the middle and then

look  up which we did not support we really did not because of that was actually horrendous to us  the African people that took our bombs and the situation became very nasty very quickly  hello sir how are you I'm fine thank you my name is Tamer I'm one of the  orthopedic doctors let me have a look here can you open math please can you stick your  tongue out please lovely can you show me a tip okay good and in a crane no no okay we'll have  an x-ray Duncan let you know okay okay no problem the

war was terrible in that there were various  awful horror scenes schools burnt down clinics burnt down emotion bombs and then the cluster  bombs which were used by the security forces so there was a lot of lot  of human damage and Carnage 80 to 90 000 lives were lost but that  was nothing compared to the amputees because land mines are used extensively  we're going to take you to x-ray now you just stay here owned by Anglo American corporation it's mostly  mining by that stage virtually all of R

hodesia was under attack Android would travel to the various  mines wherever they were dotted around Rhodesia trying the best to protect the people and the  place from the attack this is the cue yeah you know the fences were all up and the radios were  all linked and if there was any needing of extra security he would do that for them and you'd be  guarded and protected and goodness knows what um 11 35. he was a real Beacon of strength to  the people out there in the mines and the bush actually

risking himself quite extensively okay  it's okay like that yeah I used to worry very much he'd say I'm off tomorrow I wasn't allowed to ask  him where and I didn't know when he'd come back I tried to keep a routine going for the children  sake so we try to carry on a normal life which wasn't normal of course and we had high security  and chains and blocks so this water still there like that and then we started thinking that  our children might be better in another country then they would just g

et carried on in Rhodesia what was best for them that really was the  question that I had to come to terms with [Music] okay so just put your hormones straight that  way lovely Roy is being given an x-ray after falling from his roof at home yeah the war  bred distrust you couldn't trust anybody so you became very tentative 10 years  in the whole situation became so racist and I didn't want our daughters to have that  influence on them and for that reason very painfully we decided to send our chi

ldren  to young girls to boarding school in England I missed everything about their  little lives the whole wonderful Joy of watching them grow  and yes it was very difficult My Hope was that we would  come and follow after that but just at that time Roy  was given a boost at work so he felt and he should stay very torn on the one hand I had my husband on the other hand I had the children and I was in the middle I had to make peace in the sense  that I believed it was right for them doctors now

have the results of Roy's  x-rays so there's no concerning injury getting outstanding things are just uh  just a few stitches well thank you for all you've done all right okay thanks so  much no worries no more ladders oh come on the war carried on for years introduced both roaring priorities together and in  doing so that was the beginning of the new regime this will sting a little bit okay yeah you're right there yeah yeah I'll  be glad when it's over but I'm happy the environment had been dev

astated so it was a battle country all right get  your way to the ambulance entrance so we decided we should move and come  here to England and which we did Roy and Anne's daughter has now  arrived at Saint George's [Music] thank you so much for coming you  were in the hospital now this is not real I know we were really  United which was wonderful yeah life is very different very  very different it's boy for me I had to create as best I can a  lovely home for us and for the children no I think w

e're here to enjoy  each other for as long as we can thank you all in one piece a lot of my patients will  tug on my heartstrings a bit I'm always astounded but I love when I watch  those couples together and I stand at the end of the bed or if they're in the corner of my eye  and notice these moments of love and I think that was an incredible thing to see you know it's  their life partner there's that one person in the world that you stick with so let's check our  lady next and they give up a l

ot but I think they give up a lot without there being a second thought  about it because that's love and that's what you do and you know to be there for when stuff gets  really Rocky but just to be just being is enough and then I don't think it is a sacrifice  for people at all I think that's just life me too put your hair band back to your  clip it like it was falling yeah so it's a lot better good doctors now have  the full results of Marion's chest x-ray s from a lady in bed number two given

her  antibiotics the chest x-ray I don't see any new relationships yeah okay thank you [Music] I didn't expect life to make a turn  away as Mary first started them in trouble with her breathing earlier on the  year she was getting slower and slower and so she spoke to a doctor and she said I'm  afraid to tell you that it's lung cancer and so we both looked at each other  and couldn't couldn't believe it both in tears yeah both in tears once a while  she was actually told it was such a shock and

we just couldn't every time we had to  talk to someone when we started to cry Mary's cancer is in the actual left lung and  it's in a position where they can't operate on it or you're numb you're numb when you hear the news  that um someone you know we was got cancer and a limited time because you think you've got your  future ahead of you you know you don't think because you're in your 70s um you know it's  going to be the end do you think you're going to carry on living you know you feel fit e

nough  but um it doesn't work out like that you know we're just hoping that it's going to  be kept at Bay for as long as possible once it uh really grips you I'll see you come on [Music] Marianne hi doctor I'm Leslie I want the medical  doctors on the chest deck so it doesn't look like there's much liquid accumulating but what is  slightly unclear is where the infection is and because of the intervention you had so far and the  sort of underlying tumor that's that's why we're concerned about tod

ay so related to obviously  each other's chest services more than anything I think we have to carry on the antibiotics and  we'll try to move you on to our Ward quite soon is that all right good any other questions  no no no good I'll see you later yeah thanks [Music] here so you can get you over to the ward in a moment  going to Richmond Ward have you been there before the second home get a loyalty card look at you in  a second I'm just going to grab a porch and we'll head on round I'll definit

ely own Mary's Kiara she  can't breathe can't walk so we've got a wheelchair I've been in Debenhams and not the umbrella  standover um not judging it right you don't realize how long it is and how wide  it is for Zig sagging through things Marion gets so um frustrated because  she can't walk around like she used to it's your duty really you know she just when  you've been married all those years it's just something that you do naturally well as we said  the beginning of the last week best place

for you when I came I came had lots of hugs [Music] what do you want to be when you're older a doctor because it helps other people and  when they hurt their self yeah [Music] I think he might not go up another again and I think he's very very aware  of how fortunate he has been I do believe that I've had been very lucky in  my life I've been I've had very good health I've had an interesting life and I've been  the opportunity to get around the world and above all else I've got a wife who's been

with  me now for 58 years so that's okay lucky boy [Music] what's this I I didn't think she was  going to make it through that night she deteriorated so much and just  uh didn't have any life you know [Music] [Music] on this last episode of illness he has  been so good he's took charge without him I wouldn't know what to do he's helped me by  being the closest friend that I will ever have [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]