A terminally ill bride has married the love of her life with just days to live after she wrongly told by doctors that a cancerous lump on her leg was something not to think about.
23-year-old Ashleigh Simrajh tied the knot with her boyfriend Jason Hale in a deeply emotional last-minute ceremony that was attended by the couple’s family and friends on the Gold Coast.
Ashleigh was diagnosed with cancer in May last year – over a year after she was told a lump on her leg was nothing serious.
Her family claims the doctor dismissed it for nothing more than a “wart”.
She was sent her to a surgeon after a quick visual examination and was quoted $2,500 to get the lump removed, her father Tony Simrajh explained to Sunrise.
“Ashley went away from those appointments thinking she just had something cosmetic on her and it wasn’t something that she had to worry about,” he said.
“About May last year she went to check it again because it was sore, with another doctor, who within five minutes did a biopsy and then we got the devastating news that it was a nodular melanoma.”
Scans that uncovered the cancer had determined it was already too late as it had spread to Ashleigh’s lungs, lymph nodes and liver.
Tony says that his daughter has been using all of her energy throughout her cancer battle to encourage others to go for regular skin checks.
She has also urged people to question a doctor’s diagnosis if something doesn’t feel right
“It’s a story that didn’t need to happen,” he said.
“If the basics had been done then we wouldn’t be where we are now.”
“Ashleigh is 23 years of age and has terminal cancer due to a GP and specialist not conducting basic tests like a biopsy,” Tony said on a GoFundMe page set up for his sick daughter.
“She is on a mission to get her story out there for young people to get checked but also to get another doctor to have a look at it if you are still not sure.
“That would have saved her life if she did.”
Image Credit: Willow And Finch Photography
This article originally appeared on Over60.