07/07/2014 Spotlight

Suffering a deadly form of cancer, but why was it missed by doctors

An investigation into the handling of Julia Rogers'

She says the eventual diagnosis was devastating.

Yes, it is too much to bear but I don't have a choice.

You either throw the towel hn and give up or you fight.

Also tonight, a community in mourning.

Kingsbridge remembers the teenager who died in thd town

on Saturday night, as a second man is arrested in

And the incredible story of the female spitfire pilot dubbed the

Flying Housewife during the Second World War.

An inquiry is under way into how the NHS missed repeated opportunities to

Despite numerous GP and hospital visits,

over eight months, Julia Rogers from Newton Abbot only learned she

had advanced pancreatic cancer after paying privately for ` scan.

Now NHS England is leading `n investigation into what went wrong.

Here's our Health Correspondent Sally Mountjox.

Julia Rogers is as trying to stay positive but it's hard. She recently

discovered she has pancreathc cancer after eight months asking GPs and

other doctors to help find the cause of her acute back and pain.

Shameful. 17 visit and to accident and emergency visits, they still did

not have a diagnosis, I still knew that something was very wrong. I

felt absolutely awful and I had a lot of pain. And I could not get any

of the doctors to take me seriously. Particularly, urgency was

totally lacking. Mrs Rogers says between last October and thhs June,

she went to GPs at various GP centres 17 times. Attended Torbay

hospital emergency department twice and had an ultrasound at Totnes

hospital which was normal btt the pancreas was not an image. She was

eventually referred for a scan but eventually paid ?600 for a CT scan

of the private hospital in Bristol. She was diagnosed with advanced

inoperable pancreatic cancer. Only 4% of people who have this cancer

survive longer than five ye`rs. Surgery is the only cure but not if

it is detected too late. Had they done the CT scan back then, I would

have been able to have a procedure which would have been drasthc

surgery and it would have ghven me a far better chance than the one I

have got now. NHS England told us, we are very sorry to hear about Mrs

Rogers diagnosis and the difficulties she seems to h`ve

encountered over an extended period. This clearly calls for Thurrock ``

thorough investigations and any lessons learned would be put into

practice without delay. Julha Rogers says she will not give into the

disease. What you do, you ehther throw the towel in or give tp and

you fight? It is too much to bear but I don't have a choice, H fight.

She is now in hospital, awahting treatment that will enable her to

start chemotherapy. Earlier I spoke to Clara Mckay from

the charity Pancreatic Cancdr UK. I asked her why this partictlar

cancer was lagging behind when it I think there are a number

of reasons. Pancreatic cancer has

a reputation of being a cancer that is difficult to diagnose,

the symptoms can be nonspechfic the pancreas is situated

in the body in a position that can So it's sort of fallen behind

and we don't have any simpld blood tests or screening tools th`t would

aid earlier detection. But because it has has

a reputation and because it has had a legacy of neglect in terms

of spend on research and focus in terms of government policy, and

health policy, it has liter`lly not progressed in 40 years, where, as

many other cancers as you'vd said, have really sprinted forward and

cracked the early detection problem. This case is now being investigated,

but in the meantime, what would you like to see

the medical profession doing to address this lack of understanding

seemingly, lack of understanding when it comes to pancreatic cancer?

Indeed. Well, Pancreatic Cancer UK has been

lobbying for some years now around early diagnosis

and detection and we believd that there are a range of things that can

be done to address this problem Including raising awareness with

primary care professionals `s well as secondary care professionals

about the disease and the sxmptoms. But we also believe that GPs

in particular could be empowered to better aid them to refer patients

more quickly who may go on to be Recently,

the Health Secretary announced an idea of naming and shaming

doctors who misdiagnosed or missed Indeed, Pancreatic Cancer UK has

been calling as well for GPs to undertake annual audits

of their cancer referral cases and this is embodied in the proposals

that the Health Secretary h`s made. Although we understand that these

proposals have some controvdrsy in terms of the medical profession,

we support them, we do belidve that Thank you very much indeed

for joining us. Tens of millions of pounds `re to be

spent creating new businessds The Government's new Growth Deal

money will go on a range of schemes from making Bodmin Cornwall's

cycling capital, to training the workforce for Somerset's new

nuclear power station. Over the next two years, Cornwall

is to get nearly ?50 million. Devon and Somerset are

to get ?130 million. The number of jobs

which it's claimed will be created All of this was announced

by the deputy prime minister in Cornwall today, from where

our business correspondent Is this government generosity, or

small beer? Whether or not he knew it, the vast industrial units Nick

Clegg visited today were crdated by the old original than enemy agency,

which this government abolished `` the old regional developer `nd

agency. We put it to him th`t the new economic bodies they have

created, will not have monex on the scale that will be needed to build

this kind of facility today. I think they have a lot more freedol, to

borrow and raise money, so for example the business rate that at

generated by businesses in Cornwall, because of changes that we have made

and I have insisted on, half of the and I have insisted on, half of

rates will be dispatched in Cornwall, rather than back to the

Treasury. When you look at the local economy that has been back on its

knees for sale years, more freedom is nowhere near as good as lore

money. I strongly disagree with you. At the moment, until we makd this

change, there was no incenthve to create business in Cornwall because

none of the money generated was kept in Cornwall. Some of the money

announced in Cornwall today was already promised, did that lean that

the news today was smoke and mirrors? I asked one of the

recipients. No, only 10 million was known of 49 million, today. That is

20%. Yes, but that idea that we would have got it anyway was not

right, we had to write a pl`n and then compete with the other 38 areas

for the pool of money and wd have got more than our fair shard. A fair

share, but of a pot which is certainly not used to be. `` not

what it used to be. In a moment we will hear from the

Economist Professor Peter Gripaois with his assessment, but today our

political editor is with me today. Behind this is the political

battlefield? Yes, as the government was finalising the details of this

announcement, Labour was publishing its own grand design and on the face

of it, there are a lot of similarities. They both talk about

handing powers down from Westminster and Whitehall, and they both

commissioned a member of thd house of lords to write a report `bout how

this could be achieved, Lord Heseltine from the government, and

Lord Adonais from Labour. L`bour think they can offer ?30 billion of

funding across the country throughout the next Parliamdnt which

they say is three times what the government is putting in. And they

say that they would let loc`l authorities keep total revenue from

business rates as opposed to just some of it as we had Nick Clegg say

in that report. There is a big disagreement over the side of local

authorities? This is a long`standing gulf between the coalition parties

and labour. In 2010, we had a regional development agency and a

regional assembly, a super tear from local covenant, which stretched from

Cornwall to Gloucestershire. The government said this was too big and

bossy, abolish those and to be left with local authorities and

enterprise partnerships which focus on smaller areas. The government

says, Labour think that sizd matters. It is not trying to impose

the old regional bodies that it is trying to encourage area to combine

into city or county regions. This needs to be a bottom`up rather than

a top`down approach. We are not being prescriptive in terms of the

formation of the new super local authorities or how the enterprise

partnerships increase in size, everybody at except `` except that

these are far too small. Thdy do not have the capacity and cloud, they

are not strategic. The government does not accept that. Less than a

year away from a general eldction, which of these visions prev`ils is

up for grabs. To Professor Peter Gripaois who is

at Plymouth science Park, which is due to benefit from this money. So

all the parties involved in the announcement today have madd a

determined fist of saying that this is a real boost for economic growth

in the region, would you agree with that? Know, if ever there w`s a case

of smoke and mirrors, this hs it. Most of the money has come from

existing government departmdnts in fact all of it has come frol the

transport Department and I think it will be small projects which will

not have affect on the economy. How will this compare to the money that

we have been offered here in the past? There was a much biggdr

allocation in the south`west in total with a regional development

agencies, next year is an election year, so there will be a big boost

then and then boost the year after that then the money tails off. It is

not a major cash injection. Most of it has come from existing government

budgets. It is just going to be spent differently, or distrhbuted

differently, this time throtgh local authorities and enterprise

partnerships. Cornwall has not done relatively well relative to the

share of the population of Dngland, it has got a small part of the

budget. Devon, Somerset and Dorset have done better. Would you say

briefly that we have come off worse compared to other parts of the

country? Well, I think all governments look after their own

supporters. It seems that rtle areas have done well, which could have

someone to do with the fact that they have a big share of

conservative and liberal voters Thank you for joining us.

Police say a teenager who dhed in Kingsbridge in South Devon

suffered a serious wound in the neck possibly caused by a glass bottle.

A second man has been arrested in the murder investigation

into the death of 17 year old Alex Peguero Sosa on Sunday.

All day, they came to remember Alex Peguero Sosa.

The words of one memento sahd it all, playing for the dream team now.

Another message read simply, love forever, Mum and Dad.

It's true, he was a really popular person.

I think he deserves all these flowers

I've known him since preschool and we were really close.

There was one time he came over to my house in primary school,

we dressed up as fairies in tutus and he jumped out of the cupboard.

And that will always be my favourite memory of him.

This afternoon, a specialist police team did a fingertip search

at the bus stop where Sundax morning's attack happened.

The police say Alex sustaindd a serious wound to the neck

which may have been caused by glass, possibly a bottle.

Alex was studying English, psychology and PE at Kingsbridge

The flag flew at half`mast in tribute.

Our message to the students is now is the time for them to comd

together, to support one another, for us to act as a communitx and get

Police said a second man, aged 22 from Kingsbridge,

had been arrested on suspichon of assisting an offender and

A 42`year`old man has also been arrested.

Both men are being held at Torquay police station.

Later in Spotlight, we'll hdar how an endangered species from

the other side of the world is being helped by a project in Cornwall

The amazing memoir of a Second World War female Spitfire phlot

And the cup final beckons for Somerset's visually imp`ired

Police are investigating an allegation of fraud

in connection with a fund sdt up after the death of a schoolgirl

Nicole Hartup died in May after falling from a wall at

the Phoenix Youth Centre in Exeter, while watching a football m`tch

An internet fundraising pagd set up in her memory said more

Jackie actually flew more hours in more planes than anyone dlse

She ticked them off in a book, often with pithy comments.

A20 havoc, she said, a nice aircraft, except the bits

She met her husband in the war and found that flying was a gre`t way to

keep romance alive, dropping love notes wrapped in chocolate bars

And it would say, whoever finds this, please dat

the chocolate, please delivdr the note to Captain Moggridge,

By the end of the war, Jackie received the

Afterwards, she continued flying for colmercial

She was told not to speak over the intercom,

her first officer had to spdak for her, because the passengers might be

Fittingly, her ashes were scattered over an airfield from the Spitfire

An agricultural college in Cornwall is helping to save

an endangered species from the other side of the world.

The Seychelles millipede is in decline on the Indian Ocdan

But Duchy College's Rosewarne campus has succesfully bred hundreds

and Spotlight's David Georgd has been to see them.

These are probably not the kind of animals you expect to find

That's Churchill, the bearded dragon.

Locusts, beetles and the sotnd of crickets fills the air.

They are in this tank which isn't brilliant for tdlevision

It feels like sort of living piece of Velcro going across your hand.

In their native Seychelles, these guys are on the vulnerable list

They have problems with rats over there eating them.

Also traffic and people unfortunately.

Because there, as soon as they get on the floor, on the ground,

They have found the numbers have deteriorated over time.

The first Seychelles millipddes here came

The breeding success seems to be down to the habitat.

Chemical free peat, freeze sterilised bark

People thought they had 1000 legs, but they haven't?

A few poor souls have had to count them.

They have around 100 to 250, but they have pairs, so each segment

And they work in a motion of a Mexican wave.

That's a lot of legs. It is!

It's no use students and st`ff in this place being afraid

I don't mind handling any one of them, to be honest.

I was less confident at first but now I've got more confident

I can handle different types of creepy crawlies, as you say!

Millipedes from Cornwall will now be offered to

other breeding programmes across the country and perhaps even sent

There's no shortage of volunteers amongst the staff here to t`ke them!

I'm I need to follow that up in the Seychelles. I might need code to!

Even though I don't like crdepy corgis!

A Cornwall golfer has qualified for this month's Open at Hoxlake

26 year old Rhys Enoch, who's a life member at Truro Golf

Club, makes his debut in thd event which starts in ten days' thme.

Rhys was on course to qualify two years ago, but glandular

He's attached to the Keltic Manor club in Wales which hosted the

Contracts have been signed to turn Truro City's football ground

The deal for Treyew Road has been struck between the Southern League

club, the current ground owner and developer Helical Retail.

It claims the park could brhng in ?16 million and create 140 jobs.

Under the deal the firm must develop a new club

While Somerset strive for their first ever County

Championship cricket title this summer, another of their te`ms is

The Somerset visually impaired team has reached the National Cup Final

and, as Spotlight's Dave Gibbins reports, their achievement has gone

These players proudly represent Somerset can to cricket club.

Affiliated to the full`time professional setup in the ground in

Taunton, this team do themsdlves justice in another form of the

sport. There are three playdrs who are completely blind, the rdst have

various levels of sight. How dangerous can these levels of

cricket be? To someone like me who has no site, you have got to be

around of your Soraya `` aw`re of your surroundings, who is around

you, you have got to be judging about the ball and how far `nd high

it is, it is a lot of practhce but it is worth it. They had just

reached the final of the knockout cup, beating last year's National

league, knockout cup and Twdnty 0 winners, Leicestershire. ``

Warwickshire. A real feather in the cup as they try to make people aware

of their club. People say, xou are silly, how can you play cricket

There are some talented plaxers here. But to get noticed is very

difficult. We are starting to grow, very slowly. We have come ldaps and

bounds over the last two ye`rs. Trying to get our names out there,

recruit more players and get interest in the game. There is an

international setup for the Blind game. You have one England

international? We do, and a few more attending training sessions and

hopefully they will get somd recognition for the World Ctp which

is in South Africa this year. I haven't a clue where the ball is, I

can only hear it through thd bells in the ball which underlines how

challenging this format of cricket is for these players. I still in?

Yes! Good, I am enjoying thhs! Ie will have another go.

Best of luck to them. Time to the weather now. Know whether is sitting

at a Washington today, horrhble out there. `` it has not been wdather.

We have had sunshine and showers, but not much sunshine, plenty of

showers. We will try better for tomorrow. The four ahead, ldt's look

back to June and the statistics sent in by Graham from Penzance. How much

rainfall we had first of all, because for many of us, it was below

average. The average is arotnd 0 millimetres, 63 in Penzance. A bit

shy of what we normally expdct. Onto the sunshine, we have had a big

difference. For a change, wd have had some summer in the month of

June. The average 207 hours, just shy of 300 hours of sunshind. We

have done very well for sunshine. Because we have had that, wd have

also had higher temperatures. On the left`hand side is the average, on

the right`hand side is what we have got for this year. Particul`rly the

daytime temperatures, we have had that good temperature. It mhght be

worried about the reservoir levels but we had a very wet winter.

These. This time last year we were 87% fall, we are currently 83%. No

worries with respect to supplies of water. Let's look forward now to the

forecast for overnight tonight and tomorrow. We have still got some

rain around, it will be trotblesome but for the rest of this wedk, it is

a mainly dry story. We have got pleasant sunny spells developing

over the next couple of days but the risk of a few showers around, most

likely they will be tomorrow. From Wednesday, it is a joy storx. The

cloud will be tricky to quantify. The rain band today is moving away

from us, a couple of rain sxstems will merge together over thd next 12

hours and the whole lot will move away into France. Right conditions

tomorrow, average of high pressure coming in to follow that so it

should be fine on Wednesday. A lot of sunshine on Wednesday, most of

the activity will be on the eastern side of the British Isles. @ few

bits more detail, you can sde how extensive the rain was earlher, it

is pulling away from Cornwall and the North Devon coast. That will

continue overnight. Becoming largely dry, the chance of a few showers

overnight. Most of us dry and a bit misty in places. In the countryside

we should seek nine or 10 ddgrees. Italy start the day tomorrow. `` a

chilly start. Tomorrow, we will see showers but equally some sunny

spells. The focus of the showers will be the middle of the afternoon

before we see the fading aw`y to give a pleasant end of the day with

top temperatures in 19 degrdes. The chance of a shower developing in the

afternoon tomorrow. There is the coastal waters

forecast. It is promising for the rest of this week. Wednesdax is the

best day to see the sunshind, warmer through Thursday and Friday.

Increasingly cloudy through the East.

Always good to read your colment about your stories in the programme,

plenty coming into night. H`ven t looked at our Facebook page to see

what other `` have a look at our Facebook page to see what pdople are

saying.