after the death of my son at 16 years old

desypete

my son was just 16 and died from stomach cancer, he was diagnosed and died within a 6 - 7 month period, they tried chemo but it had no effect other than the first time he had it and he could eat again it raised our hopes big time. sadly they couldnt do anything for him and he died a horrible way, his spirit was crushed and me as his dad couldnt do anything to save him other than to be by his side right till the end. now i want us all to force our health service to implement screening for stomach cancer as if they had screened my son he would still be alive today, its all about catching this illness early enough yet they do nothing to detect it in anyone so it doesnt make sence at all so please get in touch if you feel the same way and want to try to change the way we treat stomach cancer and lets try and save peoples lives by simple means by checking for it something the drs just dont do as they dont think its worth it as it only happens in older people over the age of 55 well my son was just 16 and there are many others who are younger thanks for reading

petonya

I am so sorry for your loss.
I am so sorry for your loss. I have a 15 year old son. My family has the cdh1 mutation. We lost my sister in 2010 to gastric cancer. In march, my mother, brother and I had total gastrectomies due to cancer. My 19 year old neice was just confirmed to have the mutation also. She had to fight to get tested. The genetic counselor wanted her to wait until she was older. At this point, my son is in denial about the whole thing and doesn't want to get tested. The struggle and loss your family has gone through reminds me how important screening is, especially in families with a history of gastric cancer. It is, unfortunately, so much easier to put it out of your mind and believe we have time instead of facing the unbelievable. Thank you for sharing your story.