STEVE Tostdevine was the “fittest 77-year-old you could meet” but within weeks of discovering a small lump on his thigh, he was gone.
His rapid decline left his widow, June, reeling from the shocking loss and heartbroken his cancer hadn’t been spotted sooner.
“If Steve had been diagnosed earlier, then maybe he would have had a chance,” June, who is 62, said.
Born in London, Steve had run pubs and clubs his entire life.
He and June had been together for 30 years and the grandfather was enjoying retirement in Tyneside, Durham.
Described by his wife as “the life and soul of every party”, Steve’s health went rapidly downhill from May 2023.
It was around that time he started feeling an ache in his leg and noticed a lump on his thigh.
“He also felt really tired,” said June, which was unlike Steve as he used to walk miles with his dog every day.
His wife begged him to see a GP, who told Steve the bump was likely a muscle strain or hernia.
When he started spending all day in bed, he had some blood tests taken which suggested he had an infection.
The lump on his thigh had also grown.
On June 9, he was admitted to emergency care and within four days he had lost three stone.
June was told that Steve’s scans meant it was likely he had sarcoma – a type of cancer that grows in the bones or tissue.
The scans were sent to a cancer specialist for analysis and Steve waited to get a biopsy the following week.
While they waited for the results, after a week in hospital, June was asked to take Steve home.
June and other family members did their best to care for Steve at home in Hebburn but he had terrible back pain and wasn’t eating or drinking.
On the night of Sunday 25 June, June said her husband took a turn for the worst.
“Steve was screaming in pain and his stomach was rock hard. He had no feeling from the waist down and we had to take him to the bathroom to wash him,” she said.
The next morning, June demanded her GP visit him and admitted she lost her temper.
“I’ll wheel the bed down, he’s dying in front of me,” she told the practice.
A doctor did visit and quickly realised the seriousness of Steve’s condition.
She broke the horrifying news to June that her husband did not have very long to live.
Palliative care nurses were sent to care for him but Steve died 11 days after he had returned home.
The final cruel twist came on the day of Steve’s funeral – June was told by the hospital that his cancer had been diagnosed.
He had liposarcoma, a rare type of cancer which develops from fat cells and can occur anywhere throughout the body.
There are an average of 454 cases of liposarcoma diagnosed every year in England.
Steve’s shocking death has left June “a different person”.
“I’m on antidepressants now,” she admitted, “I couldn’t stay alone in the house we had lived in and spent five months with my daughters”.
June, who has since moved into a flat in Jarrow, has complained to the health ombudsman about aspects of Steve’s care.
Liposarcoma develops from the fat cells found all over the body
It can occur anywhere throughout the body but most commonly on the trunk, limbs and in the retroperitoneum.
There are an average of 454 cases of liposarcoma diagnosed every year in England.
Liposarcoma makes up 12 per cent of all soft tissue sarcomas and about 0.15 per cebt of all cancers.
Although liposarcoma can affect anyone of any age, the median age at diagnosis is 65 years old.
There are double the amount of males diagnosed with liposarcoma versus females.
Signs include:
Credit: Sarcoma UK + John Hopkins Medicine
She now wants to raise awareness of the disease she’d never heard about before it stole away her husband.
She will participate in the Great North Run on September 8 with a team of seven other family and friends to raise funds for the charity Sarcoma UK.
“I want to raise awareness of sarcoma – I’d never heard of it before this. If anyone finds a lump, they need to get it checked out,” she said.
Kerry Reeves-Kneip, Sarcoma UK’s Director of Fundraising and Communications, said: “It is so shocking how quickly Steve’s health deteriorated after his lump was discovered and reinforces the message that speedy diagnosis is so important when it comes to sarcoma.
“We are so grateful that June and her family and friends have decided to raise funds for Sarcoma UK – every penny will help others in a similar situation and support research that seeks to combat this terrible disease.”
