South Island Show Jumping Championships 15th & 16th Feb, 8am-5pm
Marlborough Equestrian Park, 81 Bothams Bend, Blenheim • Free Admission
Tuesday 11 February 2020
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Mother’s fight for life Paula Hulburt Editor
paula@marlboroughmedia.co.nz
A young mother faced a critical delay in diagnosis before being told she has incurable cancer. Sharlese Turnbull-Tait, 34, from Blenheim waited years for an answer from doctors only to find she has stage 4 bowel cancer which has now spread to her lungs. Her devasted family are now frantically trying to raise enough money for a last-ditch treatment they hope will save her life. The mum of two says she saw her own doctor after developing severe stomach cramps in 2018. But despite several visits over the next few years and a pelvic scan, Sharlese was told it was probably endometriosis – an inflammatory condition of the uterus. She now faces an anxious wait after an MRI scan last week to see if the cancer has spread even further. “I went to my doctor so many times.” “When I saw that doctor again after I’d been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, he apologised and offered to pray for me. “He said it never thought it could be bowel cancer as I was too young. “I want everyone to know the signs and symptoms as age just
Sharlese Turnbull-Tait, centre, with her young family has a big battle ahead of her. Photo: Supplied. doesn’t matter,” Sharlese says. The former care worker says she spent hundreds of dollars visiting her GP before a locum doctor noticed something abnormal in her blood test results. She was immediately referred to a
specialist who did a colonoscopy and discovered a large tumour. A week later Sharlese was told the growth was cancerous and had been growing for years. “I’m more angry than emotional as I feel really let down by the
health service. “I’m angry for myself but angrier on behalf of my children and family and what they’ve gone through,” she says. Her children, Luka-Paul Cunniffe-Tait, 10, and Ellazae Cunniffe-
Tait, 3, know that mummy is sick, says Sharlese. She has spent weeks apart from them while undergoing surgery in Christchurch last year.
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