An East Belfast father-of-two is facing uncertainty as he waits to start treatment for stage four cancer, two months after a diagnosis.
Reece Floyd, who will be marrying his partner of 11 years, Lauren, in six weeks time, overcame skin cancer five years ago. He had been been looking forward to his future with his young family when he received the devastating news that his cancer had returned and spread to other parts of his body.
The 29-year-old had originally gone to his GP with concerns that the lymph nodes on his face were swollen at the beginning of October, but says he was not able to be seen for a number of weeks and was told to "wait and see if the swelling calms down".
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One month later he was referred to dermatology and a number of tests and scans were scheduled, although he says he did have an issue with some delays and a cancellation of PET scan. In December he was eventually given the devastating diagnosis, but two months on, is still waiting to receive a full treatment plan.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Reece said: "In October I complained about swollen lymph nodes to my GP and was told that I should wait a couple of weeks to see if things calm down. I did that and when things weren't any better I rang again and had an appointment booked for two weeks later.
"It was nearly a month before I managed to get a referral and then I got the devastating news just before Christmas and since then things have been very frustrating and I feel like I am left in limbo while I wait to find out what sort of treatment I am going to receive. It just feels like there have been constant delays and issues when I need urgent treatment.
"I am waiting for a multi-disciplinary meeting to take place so that I know what treatment plan I am going to be on and it has been very hard having this uncertainty hanging over my head when I know that I need treatment to start as soon as possible.
"I have two young children and my fiance and I will need help caring for them when I am going through treatment and we need to be able to plan ahead in order to do this.
"I just hope that I will get some answers about what is going to happen soon."
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