Doctors dismissed a woman's back pain as pregnancy-related, but she really had stage 4 cancer, her family says

• Dina Aktar visited the ER weekly with severe pain but was told it was "just pregnancy-related."
• Two weeks after her son's birth, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, My London reported.

Dina Aktar was a few months pregnant when she began experiencing headaches and a persistent cough.

The 29-year-old in London, who had one son at the time, visited the emergency department weekly, but clinicians told her not to worry. "It's just pregnancy-related," they said, her brother, Imad Ahmed, told My London.

Her pain progressed to her back and pelvic area, and was so severe she often couldn't get out of bed, the outlet reported.

Finally, in September 2022, more than four months after her symptoms began, Aktar underwent an MRI. But clinicians didn't know how to interpret the growth it revealed in her brain, and told her they'd do another scan after she'd given birth, according to My London.

At this point, Aktar had lost up to 70% of her vision, her brother said. Even after another MRI that revealed a "really extensive growth," doctors wanted to push off a biopsy for a few weeks since an X-ray hadn't picked up any problems.

It wasn't until after delivering her son in October that doctors told the family they'd misinterpreted the X-ray result, and that Aktar had inoperable stage 4 lung cancer. It had spread to her brain, bones, back, ribs, eyes, and possibly her liver.

"My whole world came crashing down, I couldn't even process the birth of my newborn and deal with postpartum," Aktar wrote on her GoFundMe page. "This has not only changed my life but my whole family's world has also turned upside down and come to a standstill."

Aktar has undergone radiotherapy and is in palliative care in the UK health system. She's hoping to travel to Japan to undergo experimental treatments. "As a mother, I am determined to fight for my two babies," she wrote.

Doctors have missed other pregnant women's late-stage cancer

Other women have talked to Insider about their stage 4 cancer symptoms being missed during pregnancy.

Erin Basinger, a communications professor in North Carolina, said she developed a lump near her armpit and extreme fatigue while pregnant with her first child. But she assumed it was pregnancy-related, and her doctors didn't raise any concerns during her prenatal appointments.

But when her symptoms worsened postpartum, Basinger was referred for testing — and diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which that had spread to her head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and parts of her bones.

"It was terrifying in general, and for me it was terrifying because I had a seven-month-old," she told Insider. She's now in remission.

Casey Ward, a paramedic in South Carolina, said she was in such pain during her second pregnancy she barely left the house and even struggled to take a deep breath.

She begged doctors to operate on what they thought was a gallbladder issue, but they said, "No, we don't want to hurt the baby,'" she told Insider.

Two months postpartum, an ultrasound spotted a tumor the size of a grapefruit. It was cancer that had spread from her bile duct to her leg and lung. One doctor gave her anywhere from a day to six months to live.

When she talked to Insider in July, she was on oral chemotherapy and planning to be considered for various experimental treatments. "It's always the mentality of, 'We just need to make sure we're fighting for your life,'" she said.