My sister became unwell on our daily walks

ONE WOMAN was devastated to find out why her sister was struggling on her daily lockdown walks.

Twins Leanne and Lyndsey Allen, both 35, would go for hours of walks at the height of Covid.

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But that stopped when Lyndsey started showing unusual symptoms.

said Leanne Nottinghamshire Live: “At the beginning of Covid, when she started exercising more, the problems started.

“We used to walk during that hour of the day, so we would walk 10 miles, and then she got to the point where she couldn’t anymore because she had to go to the bathroom so many times a day.

“First she was misdiagnosed, then she was ill for a few months.

“After she had scans done and then everything was found, she started going to the hospital in April 2020 and was diagnosed in July just before her birthday.”

Lyndsey, who lives in Meden Vale, was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer that has since become incurable.

It prompted her to write a bucket list that Leanne fears she is running out of time to complete.

It includes attending a festival, riding a hot air balloon, learning sign language, seeing the northern lights and “make my family proud”.

A neuroendocrine tumour, diagnosed 6,000 times a year in the UK, can grow anywhere in the body when neuroendocrine cells start growing out of control.

Neuroendocrine cells have a variety of functions, and symptoms depend on where in the body the tumor is growing.

It interferes with the action of hormones and, as with Lyndsey, frequent urination can cause increased thirst, dizziness, tremors, a rash, or diarrhea.

Childcare worker Leanne said there was an 18cm tumor in Lyndsey’s pelvis and another in her abdomen, but “all her organs” had smaller tumours.

The news that her “womb” was diagnosed with cancer “tore her family apart”.

They had hoped that chemotherapy would give Lyndsey more time since her diagnosis nearly two years ago.

But at their last consultation they were told that this was not possible and the cancer was incurable.

“This news was the worst day of our lives and seeing the excitement in Lyndsey’s eyes will stay with me forever,” Leanne wrote on a GoFundMe Side.

The doting sister said they almost lost Lyndsey in August 2020 when she became fatal sepsis in response to an infection.

Leanne said: “She’s in constant pain and takes a lot of medication, morphine, steroids and everything.

“One of the tumors developed in her right lung and she collapsed a bit so she spent a 10 day stay in hospital over the Easter holiday when eight liters were drained from her lungs.

“It has torn our family apart, mom and dad are struggling because they think they will lose a child before they turn 40.”

Leanne, who has lived with Lyndsey since they bought their home together in 2017, said it was “heartbreaking” to see her sister suffer so much.

She started one GoFundMe Page to fund Lyndsey’s Orlando Disney dream trip, among other dream trips and activities to create lasting memories.

Leanne said: “I think we were a bit naïve about how ill she is and in the last two consultations they’ve asked if she’s still in contact with hospice in palliative care, which obviously means things aren’t great.

“So I said it’s time her bucket list was smashed. She sent it to me and I was delighted.

“The most important thing is that she always dreamed of going to Orlando Disney and there are other things like Maldives.

“We just want to do everything we can.

“Since she got cancer, she’s the strongest of us all, despite everything, she’s incredibly positive.”