Sarah Mayers was told by doctors she has a year to live after they discovered she has incurable sarcoma, months after she was reassured she only had a bruised rib
A woman who was reassured by doctors pins and needles down her left arm were caused by a bruised rib was shocked when she was later given a year to live.
Sarah Mayers, 52, felt pains as well as numbness around the chest, which doctors thought could be a symptom of arthritis in March 2024. Two months later she fell over while walking her dogs. Doctors believed she had suffered a broken rib and told her it would heal within six weeks. Days later she had trouble breathing, and was sent for an urgent x-ray. Further tests later confirmed she had incurable sarcoma – a rare type of cancer.
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Tragically she was given a year to live. Sarah said: “I thought they had it wrong – my husband was a mess, but I was in denial. I was sure they had it wrong.
“When I first saw the doctor after diagnosis, he said I’ve got a year. They said it can’t be cured, but chemo is a funny thing; it can shrink it a bit or do nothing. So we just have to play it by ear.
“Last year was a blur – I’ve had nothing but chemo since October. When I was told the prognosis, it didn’t really go in. My family was a mess and just couldn’t cope, but it didn’t feel real for me. At the moment, I’m quite lucky that I haven’t had it spread anywhere else yet.
“That’s why I had trouble breathing because of where it was. After I fell I thought nothing of it but the pain wasn’t going, so I saw the doctors and they said it was probably just a bruised rib and it’ll take four to six weeks to heal.”
Sarah then started chemotherapy as doctors had become concerned with the cancer growth, and two weeks later she got her official diagnosis. Keen to raise awareness about sarcoma, Sarah and her family bought a van and covered it with information about the cancer.
She said: “When I got the diagnosis, they said it was very rare, and I’m basically a guinea pig. They are trying different chemotherapies to shrink it and manage it, but once the chemo stops working, that’s it.
“It’s shrunk a bit, but they’ve put me on this other chemo now. We’ve been selling badges, my husband, daughter, and son-in-law have done the three peaks hike in Abergavenny to raise money, and we bought a van to have wrapped.
“There are so many different symptoms. If you have a symptom, demand you can get tested and don’t let them palm you off just by looking at you. It’s wrong and it’s scary. I want to get the awareness out there to show how rare this is.”