I’m glad to hear that Jackie Boyle was treated well from the time she went to her GP surgery and through all her recent treatment at the Great Western Hospital. She must be one of the lucky ones.

My sister fell desperately ill in September 2009 with severe abdominal pains.

She was diagnosed with a bacterial infection and prescribed treatment.

Although the bacterial infection cleared, her abdominal pain worsened.

She was continually told she was overweight and that the pain she was suffering must appear worse to her because she had a history of suffering mild mental health problems (bouts of mild anxiety and depression which millions suffer from at times through life).

Despite symptoms (especially the pain) worsening, my sister becoming crippled with the pain like an elderly person with osteoporosis, my sister asking to be opened up because she felt like something was wrong inside her, as well as losing approximately stones in weight and us, her family, fighting her cause and voicing our concerns and querying cancer, it took a year for her to be diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer.

She died aged 34 in September 2011.

She was dismissed by staff at her local GP surgery, a local medical centre, the same one that Jackie Boyle attended, as well as being dismissed at the Great Western Hospital.

All had ignored the extent to which she was suffering, telling her to be a more positive person to cope with it.

Yes, they provided pain-killing medications but they weren’t even touching her pain.

And it was nothing to do with her mental health, as was unfortunately proved, although too late to have given my sister the right to a better quality end of life process with her children.

It is positive to hear stories like Jackie’s to give people more hope if they have to undergo surgery and medical treatment.

However, I do feel it’s even more important to highlight any negative experiences with the hope that things will improve for all that require medical assistance in the future.

Michelle Winslow Silverton Road, Swindon

We found source

Your paper of May 7 published an article on Old Father Thames and its story.

Through 1962-63 through reading your papers, I discovered the source of the River Thames near Kemble.

My wife and I and two children read your article and visited the site. We had to walk across fields for one and a half miles and came to the exact place.

We discovered a statue, a little dishevelled but lying as seen in your picture.

The spring mentioned in your article was, at that time, dried up but we could see the dry bed.

At the time there was a steel fence around the statue but we knew what we were looking for.

Also that year, for the first time we followed your advice and were able to see the famous River Severn bore, a sight to behold as it happened.

High tide in the spring was advised and we watched a five-foot high wall of water outside Gloucester. A sight to marvel at.

Many thanks for your paper and advice given.

G Jones Alveston Close, Swindon

Greatest player

Stephen Hendry is undoubtedly the greatest snooker player our world has ever seen. Seven times world champion but not quite King Hendry VIII.

Stephen’s retirement was gracious, unequivocal and gentlemanly.

A pity only that it was not a little sooner so he could have avoided the heavy defeats which befell him in his later years.

It is a shame Ronnie O’Sullivan, another of the all-time greats, cannot make decisions. He threatens to quit every couple of years, whines about the game, becomes incredibly tedious and plays on.

A Reeve Okus Road Swindon