3am wake-up call that left Brisbane doctor in fight of his life

Jolted awake at 3am feeling “so unwell”, Dr Wayne Kelly assumed he’d picked up the flu from work. It turned out to be something so much more sinister and, what’s worse, his case isn’t unique.

Dr Wayne Kelly has cancer but didn't show signs until he realised he was terminal. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

It was the 3am wake-up call Wayne Kelly never expected and one that has now changed his life forever.

The 69-year-old doctor woke feeling “so unwell” but put it down to an energetic walk the day before with his dogs Tilly and Poppy, or perhaps having caught the flu from colleagues at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

“I initially thought it was just some viral illness - some doctors in training had been going off with some sickness,” Dr Kelly said.

Two days later, “worrying results” from a routine blood test requested by his GP showed something much more sinister was going on.

“I knew it was something more serious when the radiologist found bony lesions,” he said.

“They also found fluid around the heart and lungs and a partly-collapsed lung.”

As the fluid continued to build around Dr Kelly’s heart the decision was made to operate, with a cardiac surgeon draining the fluid from the organ.

While Dr Kelly felt “so much better after that”, his health problems were far from over.

“A PET scan biopsied a node in my left collarbone and after another biopsy they found a tumour behind the breastbone,” he said.

The tumour was identified as a neuroendocrine tumour, a rare growth that begins in neuroendocrine cells and spreads to other parts of the body.

Sadly, it is not uncommon for sufferers to have had no obvious symptoms in the lead up to diagnosis.

Dr Wayne Kelly at his home in Paddington, Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Dr Kelly said he spent some time “clutching at straws”, searching for past symptoms he may have dismissed.

“Where we live is hilly and I’ve got two dogs, maybe (in hindsight) I took a few more breaths when I took them for a walk,” he said.

“But I hadn’t gone off my appetite, there was no pain, there was no warning signs.”

Dr Kelly said his wife Jennifer and their six children were left shaken by the cancer diagnosis, which he says is likely terminal.

“It’s not like breast cancer or lung cancer where there’s a lot of awareness, I think this type of cancer needs more funds and awareness in society and in hospitals,” he said.

His daughter Phoebe Kelly is now fundraising for NeuroEndocrine Cancer Australia, in the hope a cure will soon be found.

“It's (the fundraising) definitely given more of a purpose for this,” Dr Kelly said.