Thomas’ Story:

Thomas Graham tragically lost his life to soft tissue sarcoma in September 2022 at just 22 years old, only 1 year after his diagnosis. In early 2021 Thomas was experiencing severe pain in his arm, which later turned out to be a MPNST (Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumour- a type of soft tissue sarcoma) that was left misdiagnosed as “repetitive strain injury” by the GP for months. In desperation we then turned to private healthcare who identified this was actually some type of tumour, but predicted it was unlikely to be cancerous. Thomas was then referred back to the NHS for surgery in August 2021 who treated his tumour as non-cancerous, therefore wrongly performing a very dangerous surgery in Thomas’ arm. Once the surgery was done, a later biopsy revealed that this was in fact cancer, and the surgery had been performed incorrectly, leaving and spreading cancer cells behind inside of Thomas. This was extremely distressing and traumatic knowing that this could later lead to fatal consequences. Not only this, but Thomas was not told about his Sarcoma diagnosis properly and usual protocol was not followed as they “forgot” to contact him, meaning that he found out this news via a vague letter in the post on a Friday afternoon showing the biopsy results and literally nothing else. With it being a Friday afternoon there was no one available to contact to ask for further information, so we spent a weekend from hell with no support wondering what this letter meant for his future. This only made the situation even more distressing than it needed to be, as nobody should find out life changing news via a letter with no warning or further explanation or support. Thomas then had a second surgery in November 2021 to fix their mistakes, however this also now meant that Thomas completely lost the use of his arm. Despite this he recovered well from the surgery and went on to have preventative radiotherapy and was given the all clear, he then tried to continue his life and live it to the full, hopeful that the trauma was behind him. Until June 2022 when Thomas’ eye began to swell up and he had a tickly cough. After being passed around in the system wasting precious time yet again, in July 2022 we found out that the cancer had returned and metastasised to his brain and lungs and was now terminal, Thomas then spent time having palliative treatment in Freeman’s hospital in Newcastle. The cancer then spread to further places in his body including his spine before he tragically lost his life at the family home in September 2022. 

Thomas’ story is extremely difficult to tell and read, but it only proves how Sarcoma patients NEED better. Sarcoma is often referred to as the “forgotten cancer” due to its rarity and the fact that signs and symptoms of sarcomas are so different to some other cancers, meaning that it is often left undiagnosed for long periods of time or treated incorrectly (which was unfortunately the case for Thomas), making survival rates poor.

Sarcoma may be rare, but it is the THIRD MOST COMMON CANCER IN UNDER 25’s. This nasty disease takes young lives and destroys families. Despite this, over the past 40 years, very little has changed for Sarcoma patients, as barely any money is spent by the big charities on research for this cancer. Most GP’s don’t know how to correctly identify Sarcoma or how it behaves.

My family and I had never even heard of this cancer before Thomas’ diagnosis, which made it all the more scary when it happened as we were left completely in the dark with no information about what the diagnosis even meant. We felt helpless and it was traumatising. Had we known about Sarcoma UK charity back then this would’ve been a lifeline of support for us, which is why we’re very passionate about spreading the word about this charity.

If you’d experienced what Sarcoma can do to a person firsthand like we have, you would scream about it from the rooftops. Please help us spread the word to help other young people hopefully have a less tragic journey than Thomas did. 

In support of the charity Mam, Dad & sister Hayley have decided to take part in the Never Forgotten Walk (walking 55 miles in the month of November) as a family. The aim is to help raise awareness for an important charity whilst also helping us to make sure we are getting out and exercising during our extremely difficult period of bereavement.

Nothing could bring our boy back but if there’s a chance we could help other families in our situation then to us it’s worth trying. Thomas Nathan Graham we love you endlessly and we will keep fighting in your memory for others like you.

Thank you for your time and support.