The sister of a man whose deadly bladder cancer only reared its head when it was tragically too late has revealed the symptom he was plagued with for years before.
Childcare worker Gregory Mannings passed away in March aged just 36 from a heart attack induced by his rapidly worsening cancer, which caused him so much pain he was unable to go to the toilet without medical help.
Sitting in Gregory's flat in southwest London surrounded by his get well soon cards from earlier this year, his elder sister Stacey, 39, told MailOnline she simply couldn't believe her brother was gone.
The mother-of-two said: 'He was an angel on Earth. I thought my brother would be here until he was old.
'He wasn't expecting it at all. It was too quick.'
Asked what she would tell him if he could hear her, she replied in tears: 'I would tell him I love him and I would ask him not to leave.'
Now those close to him have revealed the symptoms Gregory had for years before he passed away.
Gregory was just a month away from his 37th birthday when he died on February 16, 2025, after a pulmonary embolism brought on by the cancer.
Sitting in Gregory's flat in southwest London surrounded by his get well soon cards from earlier this year, his elder sister Stacey, 39, (pictured) told MailOnline she simply couldn't believe her brother was gone
Gregory (pictured) was just a month away from his 37th birthday when he died on February 16, 2025, after a pulmonary embolism brought on by the cancer
Now those close to him have revealed the symptoms Gregory had for years before he passed away
The young man first went to doctors at Croydon University Hospital, formerly the Mayday, in 2017, after seeing blood in his pee.
Doctors diagnosed him as having a urinary tract infection in multiple appointments over seven years.
Although they said they tested for cancer in 2022, none was found, and it was another two years before a tumour was spotted.
By that point the cancer was extremely advanced and Gregory died just four months later.
Stacey said: 'He was in so much pain he couldn't pass urine.
'Blood in urine [could mean] bladder cancer.
'They just kept saying, ''He's young, he's fit.''
'This went on for years.
'He told me, ''I don't understand how it's taken this amount of time to realise what's been going on but now it's too late.'
His best friend David, who is a teacher and knew Gregory for 15 years, told MailOnline the childcare worker began experiencing pain while urinating and was going back and forth to hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a UTI.
For years he said Gregory was put on different antibiotics and medications - but nothing was working.
David said: 'It got to a point like in the last year or so that at one point he was saying to me, ''When [I'm passing urine] there's bits coming out in the blood, it feels like there's bits of body coming out, there's like lumps and stuff like that''.
'And then at one point, I don't know how other kind of more sensitive way to put this. But he said to me, ''Dave, my balls are solid, they're rock solid.''
'I was thinking like this is really serious.
His sister Stacey said: 'He was an angel on Earth. I thought my brother would be here until he was old'
Doctors diagnosed him as having a urinary tract infection in multiple appointments over seven years
Pictured: The get well soon cards in Gregory flat just a month after he tragically passed away
'In October [2024] he went in, and eventually he contacted us, and he had got a diagnosis, and it was cancerous.
'One night he was in absolute agony. And this tells you a lot about the kind of guy that he was - he didn't like to bother anyone, even though I've got a car.
He was in agony, got out in the middle of the night and waited for a night bus to go to Mayday Hospital.
'He waited and waited and waited, and it was a bit serendipitous. He was in so much pain and another bus came going in a different direction, and he got on that and went to Guy's Hospital.
'He'd never been there before. He just went in, and he was in agony, and obviously they took him in and immediately tested him.
'He was in agony and they gave him a bed, admitted him, and it was the best thing that could have happened, because they just reacted quickly.
'He had this massive operation and the care that he had in Guy's was amazing.'
After the operation, Gregory spent New Year's Eve with his friends and family.
Asked what she would tell him if he could hear her, Stacey replied in tears: 'I would tell him I love him and I would ask him not to leave'
Gregory, who was gay, had come to the UK from Jamaica when he was 11 and soon felt much more comfortable living in Britain
David added: 'He was obviously recovering. We had New Year's Eve. He loved fireworks on the Thames. He always go every year.
'We all walked down from the flat and watched the fireworks together, and it felt like this thing was being sorted.
'And then when he went into hospital and they said, ''No, it's come back. At this point, you've only got a year to live.'
Stacey added: 'Why did it have to get to the point where we've lost him?'
She said her brother was always a positive person and put everyone around him at ease.
'Gregory was always smiling,' she said. 'He was always trying to show the happy side.
'He always made sure everyone else was okay and put everyone's needs above his.'
When it got closer to the end, David went to visit him and Gregory revealed his last wishes.
Gregory, who was gay, had come to the UK from Jamaica when he was 11 and soon felt much more comfortable living in Britain.
David said: 'I had a book and we sat there all Sunday, and he told me where he wanted to be buried, how he wanted his funeral to be - he wanted it to be a party, like a celebration with vibrant colours.
'We talked all about that and the whole time, even when he was in pain, he would never share it.
'He was always like in good spirits. He never wanted to worry anybody else.
'Everything he did was for everybody else. I mean his whole job was about looking after children.'
'One of the things that he said to me for his wishes was, 'I want you to like, make a GoFundMe page and if it makes enough money he wanted a charity in his name for LGBT youth who are kicked out of home.'
'Throughout the whole process he had really good friends because he gave so much to everybody and he would hold these like really amazing dinner parties, people from all walks of life who probably wouldn't normally be together'.
After Gregory's pulmonary embolism, Gregory was in a coma on life support for his final moments.
Decsribing the moment his best friend passed away, David said: 'We had to turn everything off and say goodbye, and that was it'.
A spokeswoman for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: 'We extend our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr Mannings at this incredibly difficult time.
'During the time that Mr Mannings received care in Croydon, we carried out a wide range of investigations, including a cystoscopy, which did not detect any signs of cancer at that stage.
'As cancer was not identified during these tests, our clinical teams acted on the information available at the time and followed the appropriate clinical pathways in line with best practice.
'Sadly, following further illness two years later and a new attendance at the hospital, Mr Mannings was diagnosed with a rare form of bladder cancer in November 2024 and was offered surgery.'
- You can donate to the fundraiser here if you would like:https://www.gofundme.com/f/gregory-london-mannings
- Do YOU have a story? Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
