Adelaide grandmother’s gallbladder removal surgery leads to terminal diagnosis

An Adelaide grandmother – and well-known dog breeder and disability carer – went into hospital to have her gallbladder removed but ended up with a terminal cancer diagnosis.

A well-respected dog breeder and disability carer has had her world turned upside down after a hospital visit to have her gallbladder removed turned into a heartbreaking terminal diagnosis.

Kylie Knott told The Advertiser her 64-year-old mum Chris had been feeling unwell for a couple of weeks when she visited her doctor.

“The doctor informed her that her tests weren’t good, it looked like her gallbladder was not well, like she needed (it) removed and advised her … to go straight to the hospital.”

Ms Knott thought her mum would be there for a couple of nights.

“She was in there for a month and left the hospital …(with a) cancer diagnosis,” she said.

Kylie Knott hugs mum Chris. Picture: Supplied by family

Chris was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and given three months to live.

“Once she got to hospital and they ran further tests and scans, they quickly revealed that it was a lot more serious than just the gallbladder, that there were more organs involved,” Ms Knott said.

Kylie Knott's mum Chris is a registered breeder of Cavalier King Charles spaniels and has four of her own. Picture: Supplied by family

“(The doctor) said it’s the biggest surgery you can ever perform on a person … he said ‘this surgery is not for the faint hearted and if you’re after quality of life, then this is not the right surgery for you’.

“My mum was just not prepared to take that sort of risk.”

Chris has instead relied on liver stents to help extend her life.

She also tried a round of chemotherapy which her daughter said “almost killed her”.

“She weighs less than 45 kilos now, she’s skin and bone, and very frail,” Ms Knott said.

“When she went to hospital she was still caring for two lovely disabled young men in her own home and working full-time.

“When she left hospital, she could no longer work and has become the one needing to be cared for.

“Mum has always been such a hard working, self reliant person, who gives so much to others.”

“We try to celebrate the good days and the good moments and whatever time we have left together.

“She’s such a fighter … but you’re just buying time. It’s only a matter of time before the cancer grows again and the doctors have said that eventually there won’t be anything more they can do. It is such a cruel disease.

”She really is just such an inspiration, she doesn’t complain, she doesn’t have a victim mindset at all, for someone as sick as she is, she just gets on with it and our family are just in awe of her.”

“I’m grateful to have this time with her, albeit, everyday feels borrowed and it’s so hard to watch her suffer and deteriorate, but some people don’t even get the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones so I just look for the blessings in each and every day,” she said.

Chris is a registered breeder of Cavalier King Charles spaniels who has four dogs of her own.

“Her dogs are her life, she’s actually said many times ‘they’re the reason I wake up every day’,” Ms Knott said.

“They need her and she needs them, and I feel like the moment my mum’s dogs are not in her life, she’s as good as gone.”

Ms Knott has organised a GoFundMe fundraiser to assist in the upkeep of Chris’s pets and their future care.

If you’d like to donate, you can here.