'I thought my eye would fall out of my head'

Farid Oladapo visited hospital nine times before his eye cancer was diagnosed

A man who thought his "protruding" eye might “fall out of" his head said he visited hospitals nine times before being told he had a rare cancerous tumour on his optic nerve.

Farid Oladapo, from South Croydon in south London, was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in June 2022 after noticing bruising and swelling on his right eye.

But the 24-year-old said he visited multiple different hospitals nine times before receiving the diagnosis while in his final year of university.

A spokesperson for Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said Mr Oladapo “was diagnosed and cared for in accordance with best practice national referral to treatment guidelines”.

Warning: This article contains an image some readers may find distressing.

Mr Oladapo told PA Media: “I thought to myself, everyone’s telling me that it’s going to go away, so maybe I’m overreacting and I’m just going to leave it – but my eye started to get really bad.

“My eye was protruding from my head – I’m assuming that my eye is coming out of my face – and I thought, if it keeps on coming out, it might fall out of my head.

“Every time I show people [the pictures], they can’t believe people were sending me home with my eye like that.”

‘Sent on my way’

Mr Oladapo first spotted a small bruise on his right eye in May 2022 but assumed it would “go down” over time.

He then noticed swelling around the eye, leading him to book a GP appointment, but after completing vision tests, he said doctors “sent him on [his] way”.

Although Mr Oladapo’s vision was unaffected, the swelling progressively worsened and he said he visited the A&E department at Croydon University Hospital several times.

“Every time I went to A&E, they did the same visual test repeatedly, and then afterwards they would just send me home,” Mr Oladapo said.

Mr Oladapo eventually needed to have his eye stitched closed

Mr Oladapo decided to visit the A&E department at St George’s on 3 June 2022 for a second opinion, and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has said he was referred for ongoing care.

Mr Oladapo said his parents then paid £300 for a private medical consultation for him, where the same visual tests were completed, with the consultant “not sure” what was wrong.

Mr Oladapo continued to monitor his eye, but over the following days the swelling worsened and he started to experience double vision and noticed his eye was “pointing slightly towards the right”.

The 24-year-old said he was told by a doctor it was possible he had “something pressing on his brain” but when he visited Croydon University Hospital again, he said staff completed the same visual test.

“In total, before I actually got anywhere with this, I think I went to hospital nine times before anybody told me [the right diagnosis],” he said.

“My eye was coming out of my face, it went yellow – it was so horrible.”

Over the following days he said he could no longer close his eye.

“There was pus all over my eye, there was liquid on my face, the eye was going yellow,” he said

Mr Oladapo then visited Moorfields at St George’s, where he said his eye was stitched shut on 8 June in order to prevent further infection.

A scan revealed a tumour that was causing his eye to protrude

After having a scan, Mr Oladapo was told by doctors that a mass was causing his eye to protrude and he said a biopsy during surgery on 10 June revealed it was a cancerous tumour, specifically embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma – a type of soft tissue cancer.

“Whenever you hear cancer, you just assume that people die – that’s just what you know,” Mr Oladapo said.

“My granddad passed away, my friend’s dad passed away, so that’s all I’ve known – I don’t think I’ve spoken to anyone who’s had cancer and lived to tell the tale.”

Mr Oladapo started eight rounds of chemotherapy in June 2022 followed by three more rounds in January 2023.

Mr Oladapo underwent several rounds of chemotherapy treatment

Mr Oladapo, who is 6ft 5in (195cm) tall, suffered complications during treatment in August 2022, leading him to spend two weeks in intensive care where he was “in and out of consciousness”, and his weight dropped from 85kg (13st 4lbs) to 60kg (9st 4lbs).

“I literally just looked like a bag of bones, I looked like a skeleton,” Mr Oladapo said.

While he said he had been left with slight blurred vision in his right eye, he has reached remission and will continue to have check-ups over the next 10 years.

Mr Oladapo now has blurred vision in the affected eye

He said he felt proud that he was able to complete his degree and had since achieved his FA Level 1 in Coaching Football, and would soon start his new role as a business and commercial banking analyst.

He urged others who may be in similar situation to "trust your gut" and "don't wait till it's too late".

A spokesperson for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “We are sorry to hear that Mr Oladapo was unhappy with the care he received.

“During his first attendance at our Emergency Department on 19 May 2022, an urgent referral was made to Moorfields Eye Hospital, a specialist in eye care.”

A spokesperson for Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Mr Oladapo’s case was complex.

“The rare form of cancer that he was diagnosed with required a number of specialist tests to determine the most appropriate treatment option for him, however he was diagnosed and cared for in accordance with best practice national referral to treatment guidelines and started treatment for his cancer within 62 days of his initial referral."