A mum has revealed how an innocent pizza night with her family turned into a horrifying battle with cancer.
Janette Schofield will forever be a fan of the dish, saying it “saved her life” after a freak accident involving the meal led to her diagnosis.
While serving up the slices, the 45-year-old from Oldham, Manchester, fell against her kitchen units and was left with “excruciating” pain in her back, shoulder and head.
The mum was rushed to hospital via ambulance and was soon after sent home and told to rest with no major complications.
But a week later, she received a “terrifying” call from doctors saying they had found something worrying in her lungs.
It became the start of Janette’s nightmare as just one month later, in December 2021, she was diagnosed with early stage lung cancer.
“In a way, this snack was responsible for saving my life,” she told NeedToKnow.online.
“I’m thankful that I fell, as it means I’m still here to tell the tale – and if I hadn’t hurt my back, things probably would’ve been a lot worse or untreatable.
“After taking a little longer than planned in the shops, I decided to look for a quick dinner to whip up once I got home and settled on a meat feast pizza.
“A few minutes after popping this in the oven, I went to check on it and bent down to open the oven door, where I lost my balance and slipped.
“I felt a bit shocked as I realised I couldn’t get back up and quickly, panic started to set in.
“The longer I was on the floor, the more my legs started to go numb – it was terrifying.”
She called her son, Adam, 23, and their neighbour for help, who rung for an ambulance and escorted the 45-year-old to hospital.
Upon arriving, medics found Janette had suffered a spinal fracture but also detected a lesion on her left lung.
She was referred to the Oldham Chest Clinic and was enrolled in the cancer investigation pathway, a series of tests and scans to detect the illness.
She said: “At this point, I had a feeling everything was going to happen fast for me.
“I was injected with a dye and then an hour later, I received my scan, which determined the exact size of the shadow on my lung, which was four centimetres.
“A biopsy was scheduled for me, but this was unfortunately inconclusive and each time they were close with a needle, the tumour moved.
“There were also further X-rays and blood tests taken, as well as a beep test – but there was still no luck of a diagnosis.
“I stayed as positive as I could. I didn’t really like using the term cancer, so whenever talking to anyone about it, I told them I had a squatter called ‘Bob’ in my lung.
“This helped others realise that I was being as positive as possible because I had faith in the medical teams that were helping me to fight.”
In a bid to remove the tumour for good, Janette was referred to Wythenshaw Heart and Lung Centre for emergency surgery.
On 25 February 2022, she underwent the procedure and upon waking up, received confirmation of that she had cancer – but due to the early detection, there was little risk of the illness returning.
And she is now forever grateful to the pizza that saved her life.
She said: “I was given three choices; radiotherapy, where I would risk losing half my lung, a frozen biopsy, where they would take a section of the tumour and 15% of my lung or to remove the tumour and some of the lung entirely.
“I chose the third option, as they would also remove the three adjoining lymph nodes and test for spread.
“After my surgery, all I can remember is lying in recovery and the surgeon telling me it was lung cancer – but I was just thankful it was all gone.
“I felt relief and while it was a little painful, as they had to drain into my side and remove any fluid that had built up on my lung, I wasn’t stressed.”
Unfortunately, Janette’s lymph nodes still showed traces of the illness and the mum required four cycles of chemotherapy.
Janette said: “I knew that this would be unpleasant for my body and a few days after my first session, I ended up being taken to hospital due to being unwell.
“I was admitted to the acute medical unit for three days while they tried to increase the lack of fluid within my system.
“But I carried on with chemotherapy even though it was making me sick.
“It wasn’t plain sailing, but mentally, I knew that I needed to give my body the best chance of removing the trace of cancer cells that were in my blood stream.
“I had behind me a very strong group of family and friends who were also there to encourage me and help me when I needed them to.”
On 25 July 2022, Janette rang the bell for finishing her treatment and in November that same year, was declared to be in remission.
However, she’ll still need to receive follow-up appointments for the foreseeable future.
Despite the traumatic time, the mum looks back on the ordeal with positivity and is thankful to still be alive today.
She added: “I think the whole situation was dealt with better than I thought.
“I’m still struggling with my health but my body has been through a lot of treatments to get rid of the cancer.
“I’m glad I slipped over and hurt myself – it’s the only reason I’m still kicking about today and it’s all because of a miracle pizza.”
