Former landscaper James Driver, 30, battles stage 4 adenocarcinoma cancer

A Sale man is battling stage 4 bowel cancer after being misdiagnosed with epilepsy for two years, and says experts could have caught the disease earlier if he had been listened to.

Former landscaper James Driver was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma cancer at Sale Hospital after being wrongly diagnosed with epilepsy for two years. Picture: GoFundMe

A former landscaper who was told for two years that he had epilepsy after earlier being told he was just suffering from stress has now been told he has life-threatening cancer.

Melbourne man James Driver, who recently moved to Sale, said he began experiencing worrying symptoms several years ago but was told by doctors it was just “stress”.

After many tests, Mr Driver was told he had epilepsy and his licence taken off him as he suffered from seizures.

However, Mr Driver was certain about the diagnosis.

“I knew the whole time that something else was wrong,” Mr Driver said.

Searching for answers, Mr Driver and his wife Leanne Torpey went to the Sale Hospital which is where he got his official diagnosis of stage 4 adenocarcinoma cancer in May last year.

About a week later, Mr Driver had his large intestine removed and now lives with a stoma bag.

James Driver and Leanne Torpey on their wedding day. Picture: Olivia Nicole Photography

He then started immunotherapy treatment and has 17 rounds to go, saying his cancer fight had been difficult both emotionally and physically.

“I’ve gone from landscaping every day to just sitting here and resting so I can try and heal,” Mr Driver said.

“Even just walking to the letter box is exhausting — this just changed my whole aspect of life — I look at everything differently now.”

Ms Torpey said her husband would have died within weeks if he didn’t get the lifesaving surgery.

“No one picked up what he had — he had cancer for four to five years,” she said.

“And it’s too late now, we’re at stage 4.”

Ms Torpey said as soon as her husband was diagnosed with cancer, his neurologist from Melbourne cleared him of epilepsy.

Mr Driver’s doctor told him he was missing a protein in his genetics, meaning he was always going to get cancer, it was just a matter of when.

James enjoys colouring when he is in the hospital. Picture: GoFundMe

“The seizures were his body telling him something was wrong. It was a warning sign the body can give like when someone overheats, they will have a seizure,” Ms Torpey said.

Mr Driver said when he had symptoms, he tried to apply for a free bowel cancer test kit on the state government website but was ineligible due to his age.

He believed the cancer could have been caught at stage one or two had he been given a kit.

“These test kits should be eligible for younger people, not just the elderly,” he said.

“Do not ignore the symptoms, and if you think that you’re not being listened to by a doctor, get a second opinion.

“And cancer — it doesn’t discriminate on age — there’s babies with cancer.

“It just gets everyone and it seems that bowel cancer is getting the younger generation now.”

No longer being able to work, Mr Driver had to resort to terminal illness and Centrelink payments.

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The couple are advocating for anyone who experiences symptoms of bowel cancer or if the disease runs in their family they should be able to apply for a test kit.

“We’re going to try and come up with a slogan and push that,” Mr Driver said.

“So when people see that slogan and think about bowel cancer, it puts more awareness on the situation,” he said.

Ms Torpey has created a GoFundMe page for her husband, asking the community to help prolong his life for as long as possible.

The state government was contacted for comment.