Teenager died from cancer just two days after her 19th birthday after 10lb tumour dismissed as 'hormonal problems'

A teenager died from cancer two days after her 19th birthday after her 10lb (4.5kg) tumour was dismissed as being 'hormonal problems'.

Liberty York was told it was 'highly unlikely' she had cancer after her symptoms were repeatedly mistaken as something else, including mastitis and an abscess.

She was forced to endure months of appointments before doctors finally discovered she had angiosarcoma, an aggressive soft-tissue cancer and a 10lb tumour in her chest.

By then, the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes but there were no available beds for her to have treatment at a specialist hospital.

Despite later undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Liberty died at home in the early hours of June 1 last year.

Now her devastated mother Hannah York, 41, says her daughter wasn't given a 'fighting chance' as a new campaign launches to stop young cancer patients slipping through the net.

Ms York, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, said: 'I'm not a medical expert but it just baffles me how they can have something so huge and don't rule out the most serious thing.

'I think the thing for me is that I always feel some guilt for trusting, for not pushing more.

'When your child takes a long time to be diagnosed, I think there will always be a part of you that wonders, 'Why didn't I keep pushing?'

'Throughout Liberty's cancer journey, there often didn't feel like much hope - her cancer was rare, underfunded and under-researched.'

Liberty first felt unwell in May 2024 after developing fatigue and nausea, followed by unexplained breast symptoms.

A year earlier she had been diagnosed with Addison's disease, a rare autoimmune condition, so at first the family thought it was possible the two could be linked.

Her mother said: 'The GP suspected it might be hormonal and wanted further investigation, so we had to wait for an appointment.'

But when her left breast began to swell, they went back to the GP who 'thought it was mastitis because it was red as well and painful', Ms York said.

Antibiotics were prescribed but they failed to work and doctors initially thought she had an abscess.

Ms York added: 'They said it was highly unlikely to be cancer.'

It was only on August 21, 2024 – three months after symptoms began – that a biopsy finally revealed the truth.

With no beds available, Liberty was sent home in agony, unable to walk more than 10m (33ft), with her breast swollen to ten times the normal size.

'She was in unbearable pain,' Ms York said. 'We hadn't been given any medication. As a mother I felt so helpless.'

After a trip to A&E, Liberty finally got a bed and underwent surgery on September 10. Surgeons removed the tumour along with her breast, surrounding tissue down to the ribcage, and all lymph nodes in her left armpit.

Liberty caught pneumonia in hospital, developed blood clots, and by November was told the cancer was now incurable after spreading to her left lung.

She started palliative chemotherapy but the cancer spread again in May 2025 after a new lump appeared near her surgical scar.

Liberty made the heartbreaking decision to stop all treatment and went home for end-of-life care.

Her mother said: 'The only time she asked me 'why' was when she knew she was leaving hospital to come home to die.

'This was something I couldn't answer, because it didn't make sense.

'Liberty passed away in the early hours of 1st June, peacefully in her sleep at home.'

She is supporting the Child Cancer Smart campaign, led by CCLG: The Children & Young People's Cancer Association, as it launches new guidelines for healthcare professionals, aimed at improving recognition of soft tissue sarcomas in children and young people.

These cancers account for about 7 per cent of childhood cancers, according to the charity, but experts say diagnosis can often be delayed because symptoms resemble more common conditions.

Ms York said: 'I don't know if any earlier diagnosis could have saved her, but she'd have had more of a chance.

'Liberty's type of sarcoma was a particularly aggressive sarcoma and, after she was operated on, it had spread to her lungs in just six weeks.

'Her cancer was rare, underfunded and under-researched, so the best chance of helping other people is by making sure they are diagnosed early.'

Dr Sharna Shanmugavadivel, a paediatric emergency medicine doctor who is leading the charity's campaign, said: 'Time to diagnosis for soft tissue sarcoma has been shown to have a significant, independent association with overall survival in children, yet it is one of the longest among all childhood cancers.

'One of the major pitfalls in diagnosing soft tissue sarcoma in children is recognising when something doesn't fit the expected picture.

'We are seeing that a lump may be attributed to an injury despite no clear history of trauma, mistaken for a lipoma or bruise, or continue to be diagnosed as an infection when it has not responded to antibiotics.

'Recognising that it has not improved as expected or is getting worse and investigating further is crucial.'

She added: 'We have created these guidelines because reducing these avoidable delays has the potential to reduce treatment-related harm and save the lives of children across the UK.'