A teenager was diagnosed with a rare and often fatal cancer after struggling to breathe.
Just after his 19th birthday, Wavertree teen Tom Street started feeling a "dull ache" in his chest, with an occasional "sharp pain" when the tumour pressed against his ribcage. Scans picked up a cloud in his chest, seeming to confirm the GP's suspicion of pneumonia. But the pain stayed, with painkillers offering only slight reprieve.
Later scans showed the cloud had grown, and a biopsy six months after symptoms started revealed the growth was cancerous. Speaking of his diagnosis with Ewing sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, Tom, now 25, said: "I was really naive, to be honest. I sat in the room with my mum and dad. My mum was in tears and I was like, 'Oh it can't be that bad'. I was under the impression I'd be going to uni in September."
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He was "distraught" when he realised treatment would take more than just cutting the tumour out, and he "broke down in tears in the doctor's office" after walking past people undergoing chemotherapy at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
Tom deferred his place to study building surveying at Leeds Beckett University for a year while the hospital treated his cancer. He needed 14 rounds of chemotherapy and 33 sessions of radiotherapy, along with a surgery to remove half a lung and four ribs taken out.
Going through treatment was "tough" and it took six weeks to recover from surgery. But Tom made it through and got the all clear in January 2017 thanks to his "absolutely amazing" friends and the "dedicated and devoted" staff, doctors and nurses from Clatterbridge, the Teenage Cancer Trust, and Young Lives vs Cancer who supported him.
He's graduated university and is now doing a real estate masters at Liverpool John Moores University, but he still goes for checkups with Clatterbridge due to the risk of the cancer returning. Tom said: "There is the constant fear that it will come back, but you can't think of it that way. You've just got to live your life the way you want to. You can't walking around with the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head."
Tom shared his story for Sarcoma Awareness Month to urge people to "listen to your body" and visit a GP if you have symptoms. These can include bone pain, a lump or swelling that grows over time and may be tender, a swelling in the tummy, feeling tired all the time, and unintentional weight loss. Tom said: "Teenagers often get aches and pains, so it's really hard to distinguish whether you're just sore today because you've slept funny, or you know, this is an actual tumour grow in you."
Throughout July, the Sarcoma UK charity is calling for better, faster diagnosis for sarcomas, a group of cancers affecting tissue almost anywhere in the body, with more than 4,200 people diagnosed each year. The charity said: "Being diagnosed with any cancer is an isolating and lonely experience. This is particularly true for sarcoma patients, who have agonisingly long waits for a diagnosis of a cancer that has such limited treatment options.
"The later that any cancer, including sarcoma, is diagnosed, there will be even fewer options available for treatment and a higher chance of treatments not working. Put simply, late diagnosis costs lives."
Roughly six in 10 people with Ewing sarcoma live at least five years after being diagnosed, according to the NHS. Sarcomas in general have a 10-year survival rate of 45%. The Sarcoma UK said: "The prognosis for the UK's sarcoma patients has changed little over the past 40 years. Late diagnosis is a key factor."
Dr Nasim Ali, consultant in medical oncology at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: "It's fantastic to hear that Tom is going from strength to strength since finishing his treatment with us and we're really proud that he's been able to complete his studies and is realising his ambitions.
"Sarcoma is a rare cancer that can be more common in younger people than other cancers, and because symptoms can often be vague at first, can often be overlooked, particularly when someone is otherwise young, fit and healthy.
"If you have any symptoms, particularly a pain or swelling that isn’t going away, I would encourage you to see your GP and explain you are worried. As with other cancers, the earlier we find a sarcoma, the more treatment options there are available and the higher the chances are of making a full recovery and living well afterwards."
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