Grandmother Lives With Terminal Cancer For 21 Years, Her Husband Kept Diagnosis Secret

In April 2021, Rosie Gamp, a beloved 90-year-old London grandmother took her last breath after a happy life spent alongside her husband and family. But what Rosie Gamp didn’t know was that a decision by her husband undoubtedly saved her more than 20 years of life: at 69, she was doomed to terminal breast cancer. A situation she was never aware of.

A lie to preserve his wife

The story of this secret began in November 1999 when Ms. Gamp, a shorthand typist, was diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump under her right armpit. Rosie Gamp undergoes surgery, but doctors unfortunately find that the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, and judge the cancer to be terminal. But when they try to contact the patient by telephone (landline at that time) to advise her to begin palliative care, it is Melvin who answers, and collapses.

When his wife questions him about the call, he can’t bring himself to tell her the truth, especially since his wife’s four sisters have all died of cancer, and declares that the results have not yet come in. .

A clinical trial saves his life

Fortunately for Melvin, his lie will have surprising consequences. Not seeing the urgency of her condition, Mrs. Gamp refuses the proposed chemotherapy because she fears losing her hair before her grandson’s bar mitzvah and only accepts radiotherapy.

Worried and carrying the responsibility on his shoulders, Mr. Gamp secretly begins to learn about experimental drug trials around the world. Luckily, he found one nearby, at Middlesex Hospital. The trial offers anastrozole, a hormone therapy drug that has since been shown to reduce the risk of developing and returning breast cancer.

The drug, now marketed under the brand name Arimidex, is used around the world today and was taken by Ms Gamp for the rest of her life. Melvin Gamp, expecting at any moment to see his wife’s condition deteriorate, finally celebrated 50, 60, then 67 years of marriage… Reinforced around a little secret.

Can you hide the seriousness of your condition from a sick person?

It is only during his wife’s funeral oration that Melvin reveals the truth, and the fact that Rosie could have left them 21 years earlier. A confession that surprised everyone. But who, taking into account the two decades gained, did not provoke the anger of those close to him.

“I think what he did – although incredibly risky – was a testament to the incredible love he had for my grandmother because he would do anything to protect her and keep her safe. It was his way of doing things and it paid off.” their grandson Oli Gamp was moved.

Did ignoring her true condition benefit Rosie Gamp? Was she spared from the stress? Hard to say. The protection of her husband is here associated with the discovery of a test which has proven effective, and is not necessarily reproducible.

In the context of French medical ethics, only the opposite case is mentioned: article 35 of the Code of Medical Ethics provides in this regard that a fatal prognosis must only be revealed with caution to the family, but that relatives must then be notified, unless the patient has previously prohibited this disclosure or designated a third party to whom it must be made.