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blood clots

Mums fight
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hello i am hoping you can give me some advice

my my has rectal cancer stage 1, and had 5 days of radiotherapy at the end of march/beg april.   they reduced her treatment to a 5 day course due to her overall health as the oncologist didnt feel mum could take this over a 5 week course.

anywa around 3 weeks after her radiotherapy mum suffered with stomach pain and was rushed to hospital, its was then they found she had a blockage due to her food not digesting.

since being in hospital mum then developed pain in her left leg and was transferred to a vascular dept and they discovered a blood clot.   she was immediately put on heprin (not sure if there was any other medications involved).  but sadly things went bad to worse and resulted in mums left leg being amputated this week.

when we spoke to the vascular consultant he indicated the blood clots in her leg could have been connected to her cancer/treatment. 

i just wondered if this was true and is this something common in cancer patients?

thank you

claire jones

  • Hi Claire,

    Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the online community. I hope you’ll find it supportive and helpful. My name is Helen and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists.

    I’m so sorry to hear about your mum needing her leg amputating due to blood clots.

    Having cancer can increase your risk of developing blood clots. Researchers think that up to 20 out of every 100 people with cancer (up to 20%) develop a blood clot at some point.

    Some cancer treatments may increase this risk, however some medical conditions and lifestyle factors can also increase your risk of developing them. 

    The NHS has general information about blood clots in the leg (deep vein thrombosis or DVT) including who is more likely to get a DVT.

    If you are still concerned that the cancer or your mum’s treatment may be related to this, we would encourage you to speak to her consultant or hospital team about your concerns.

    I hope this information has been helpful, but if you need any further support please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.

    Best wishes

    Helen, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist

    You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.

     

    Ref/CF

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