“In April I thought I only had a few weeks to live,” says Mirjam Müller from Hamburg. At that point last year she had lost ten pounds of weight and was in extreme pain. Today she says of the doctors who initially treated her: “They just watched me die.”

Severe diarrhea up to 15 times a day

It all started with diarrhea. But they weren’t like what everyone who has ever had an upset stomach knows. “They came suddenly. Up to 15 times a day,” says the journalist. And around the clock. But above all, they didn’t stop. For six months, Müller went from doctor to doctor. Until a practicing radiologist discovered liver metastases.

The doctors’ diagnosis: Lung cancerwhich has spread into the liver. Instead of carrying out further examinations, Müller was given increasingly higher doses of opiates and was recommended to change her diet. “For months I lived on lactose-free quark, eggs, ham, cheese, oil and chocolate with 100 percent cocoa, which took a toll on my quality of life and my physical condition,” says Müller. She also suffered so much pain on the toilet that it brought tears to her eyes.

“Extreme pain took away my hope of a bearable life”

Mirjam Müller could no longer leave the house. Her social life came to a standstill. She couldn’t rest at night because the diarrhea didn’t stop. All of this brought her to the brink of depression. “In particular, the extreme pain increasingly took away my hope of having another life that was bearable in any way.”

But one thing still worked: the journalist’s critical spirit. And their persistence. To get a second opinion on her situation, she turned to the Charité. With great effort she traveled to Berlin accompanied by her husband. There, the doctors found an exorbitantly elevated calcitonin level – a hormone that has a significantly higher level This is an indication of rare thyroid cancer.

Cancer patient researches on her own

The doctors expressed a completely new suspicion: the primary tumor could be in the thyroid, not in the lungs. With the new information, Müller returned to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in the hope of adjusting the therapy and further examinations. But according to the patient, the doctors dismissed the idea. The increased value could also come from a lung tumor.

“On the advice of the doctor from the Charité and against the resistance at the UKE, I still insisted on a biopsy of the thyroid, which was ultimately carried out at the UKE,” says Müller. Nevertheless, UKE pathology remained the same as its initial diagnosis.

Müller continued to research. She showed her documents to doctor friends who also expressed doubts about the UKE diagnosis. At the same time she became weaker and weaker. When she could hardly do it anymore, she made one last attempt and drove to the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital in Kiel.

“My condition changed suddenly”

Skeptical of the Hamburg colleagues’ diagnosis, the doctors on the fjord carried out a complete new diagnosis. In addition to all imaging procedures, they carried out a genetic test that had not previously been carried out. And it was clear: not lung cancer, but thyroid cancer caused by a gene mutation!

To treat this carcinoma, a completely different drug therapy was necessary, which was changed immediately. “My condition changed suddenly. After I had previously thought he wouldn’t live much longerwithin five days I was almost symptom-free with regards to the diarrhea and am regaining my strength in great strides.”

Seriously ill cancer patient has her life back

Mirjam Müller now goes jogging ten kilometers twice a week, whereas just a few months ago she could no longer walk 500 meters. The journalist is demanding compensation from the UKE and has hired a lawyer. She emphasizes: “It’s not about the money for me. I want them to work differently.”

Other cancer patients don’t necessarily have the same opportunities that she had because she is well connected and was able to travel to Berlin and Kiel. “Other people may not have these resources. They would have simply died.”

When asked, the UKE did not want to comment on the allegations. “Please understand that the UKE generally does not comment on ongoing proceedings,” said a spokeswoman.

Müller now takes tablets permanently. It cannot be cured by the new therapy. But at least: The tumor growth has stopped at the moment and the metastases in the lungs and liver have even decreased.