Teenager dies from cancer after chest tumour was dismissed as hormonal issues

Liberty York, a teenager from Stratford-upon-Avon, has died from cancer two days after her 19th birthday, the Daily Mail reported. Doctors initially dismissed her 10lb (4.5kg) chest tumour as hormonal problems and told her that cancer was highly unlikely. Her symptoms were repeatedly mistaken for other conditions, including mastitis and an abscess. [1]

According to the Daily Mail, York underwent months of medical appointments before doctors identified her condition as angiosarcoma, an aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer. By the time the 10lb tumour in her chest was diagnosed, the disease had already spread to her lymph nodes. [1]

Signs of cancer in breast tissue can include a lump, changes in breast shape, skin dimpling, fluid from the nipple, or red and scaly patches of skin. Swollen lymph nodes, bone pain, shortness of breath, and yellow skin can occur when the disease spreads to distant parts of the body. [2]

The death follows other recent cancer cases reported by news outlets. As FTMQ News reported earlier, former Dublin footballer Darragh Nelson died at age 36 after a four-year battle with sarcoma cancer, and 30-year-old Chelsea Tantum from Manchester died of melanoma after using tanning beds for ten years. [3][4]