A woman who lived with a cancer diagnosis for two years and even froze her eggs after receiving immunotherapy went into a “state of shock” when doctors told her the diagnosis was wrong.

Theater make-up artist Megan Royle, 33, underwent nine cycles of treatment after being told she had skin cancer, undergoing surgery, treatment that affected her fertility and years of worrying about nothing.

The error was not discovered until he moved north in 2021 and another consortium reviewed his file.

Royle, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, said he struggled to understand what happened and was “in a state of shock”.

He added: “It’s hard to believe something like this could happen, and to this day I have not been given an explanation as to how and why it happened.”

“I spent two years believing I had cancer, I went through all the treatment and then they told me there was no cancer.”

Her doctor referred her for a dermatological examination at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in 2019 when she reported that a mole on her upper arm was enlarged, itchy and scabrous.

Following the biopsy, Royle, then 29, was told that melanoma (a type of skin cancer) had been identified.

He was then referred to a specialist cancer unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital. They reviewed her biopsy and told her it also confirmed melanoma.

He underwent a 2 cm wide tissue excision to remove the “cancer”.

Because she was told that the immunotherapy treatment she was receiving could affect her fertility, she underwent egg conservation.

After undergoing nine treatment cycles until May 2021, and after being told there were no signs of the disease, he moved north because the pandemic prevented him from working in theatre.

When the new hospital consortium reviewed his records and x-rays, an error in his diagnosis was discovered.

He said: “When the doctor told me it would take a while for it to sink in.”

“You might think that the immediate emotion would be relief, and in a sense it is, but I think the emotion that comes up most right now is frustration and anger.”

“When I was first told that I had cancer and would need surgery to remove it as well as treatment that could affect my fertility, my approach was simply to say ‘yeah, let’s do what we have to do.’”

“I wasn’t thinking about having children at the time, but having children was always something that was in my future plans, so I didn’t hesitate to freeze my eggs.”

“No matter how difficult it is, I almost always come up with ideas quickly.”

“However, when I found out two years later, after undergoing treatment and living with worry, it was very difficult for me to be told that I never had cancer.”

“To be honest, I had a hard time for a long time, strange as it may seem.”

He took his case to medical negligence specialists, Hudgell Solicitors, who won an out-of-court settlement with both consortia.

Associate solicitor Matthew Gascoyne said: “This is clearly a very unusual case as Megan was wrongly diagnosed with skin cancer and of course there was a significant psychological impact given her young age. “This was made worse by the need for surgery and because she was warned that the only treatment she received could affect her fertility.”

“This was a difficult time for him because of the illness he suffered while undergoing treatment. Ultimately the psychological impact worsened when he was given the news that he did not have cancer at all.”

“All of this could have been avoided.”

“That wasn’t discovered until they outsourced the aftercare to another consortium.”

“If he doesn’t move, he may still be in a situation where he believes he is in remission and the cancer may come back.”

Due to misinterpretation of results leading to an incorrect diagnosis in 2019, compensation was awarded to Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (which manages the pathology services used by Chelsea & Westminster Hospital) Royle.

Both NHS trusts have been contacted for comment.

_{Translation of Michelle Padilla}