When Anne Shaw, 68, went in for a routine scan in 2019, she trusted the system she’d relied on for years. What she didn’t know was that a golf ball-sized tumor on her ovary had been completely overlooked — a mistake that would cost her the future she dreamed of.

For two long years, Anne’s concerns were dismissed. By the time doctors finally diagnosed her advanced ovarian cancer in 2021, it had spread too far. Surgery removed part of her bowel, but it was too late for a cure. “They condemned me to death,” she said quietly. “And they still won’t even talk to me.”

The retired workplace trainer from Leeds had beaten cancer twice before. But this time, she says, what broke her heart wasn’t just the disease — it was the silence from hospital leaders. Despite promises, no one from St. James’s University Hospital met with her to discuss what went wrong. “All I wanted was a cup of tea and a conversation,” she shared. “But they haven’t got the decency to face me.”

Anne now lives with constant fatigue, a stoma bag, and a restricted diet that’s robbed her and her husband, Louis, of the retirement they once planned together. Yet even in her pain, she fights for others. Her mission now: to make sure every scan for suspected cancer is reviewed by two experts — so no one else slips through the cracks.

“If I can stop just one family from going through this,” she said, “that will be my legacy.”