Mansfield woman shocked to find lump on stomach is 8kg cancerous tumour

39-year-old Steph has had a tough five years by anyone’s standards – the prison officer has witnessed a number of serious incidents at her prison, and was also knocked from her motorbike, leaving her with long-term injuries.

The mother-of-two witnessed a near-fatal stabbing of her colleague with a prison-made shank in 2017, she was in a near-fatal hit-and-run with a flatbed lorry while on her motorbike in August 2019 where she shattered her collarbone and suffered a brain injury, and she was also subjected to a failed hostage attempt while at work in December 2020.

Now suffering from extreme complex PTSD and residual memory loss from her accident, the third-degree black belt is faced with her toughest challenge yet; leiomyosarcoma.

Steph explains: “I’ve always trained and had aches and pains from lifting weights, so when I had the odd ache in my back or side, I assumed it was either from training or not drinking enough water.

"I found a lump on my stomach and showed it to my fiancé Phil, and made a GP appointment the next day.

"My doctor thought it might have been an enlarged spleen, so I was booked in for an urgent scan, but I ended up in A&E doubled over in pain the next day.

"From finding the lump to being told I had an aggressive form of cancer, was just two days.

"I couldn’t believe it.”

Leiomyosarcoma is a type of soft tissue cancer that develops in the smooth muscles – it is rare, with only 600 cases diagnosed per year in the UK, and also aggressive – since discovering the tumour in December, it has already grown considerably.

Leiomyosarcoma does not respond to chemotherapy or radiation in the way other types of cancer do, so Steph is currently awaiting a date for an operation to remove the 14cm tumour which is protruding from her stomach.

During the surgery, Steph, who is an avid weightlifter and owns a gym with partner Phil, will lose a kidney, part of her bowel, and the majority of her psoas muscle, which will impact her ability to walk in the future.

The tumour is also believed to be attached to her aorta, however the severity of this will not be known until she is on the operating table.

"I have a hell of a lot to live for – my wedding is planned for July, so I’m focusing on that and hoping that surgery goes as planned,” Steph continued.

"I don’t know what the future will hold for me in terms of if I’ll be able to train or ride my bike again, so I’m focusing on raising awareness and money with my daughter’s Courtney and Kayley to help try and highlight this more.

"I could have had the tumour for a while and not realised as I didn’t know the signs to look out for.”

To find out more about Leiomyosarcoma and Steph’s fundraising campaign, check out her Facebook page: Steph’s sarcoma cancer journey.

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