Teen Dies of Cancer Days After 19th Birthday Following Delayed Diagnosis
A family is advocating for improved recognition of rare cancers in young people after a teenager's 10-pound tumor was initially dismissed as hormonal issues.
Liberty York, 19, died on June 1, 2025, just two days after her birthday, from angiosarcoma, an aggressive soft-tissue cancer. A large tumor, weighing approximately 10 pounds, had spread to her lymph nodes by the time it was diagnosed. Her mother, Hannah York, 41, believes her daughter was not given a sufficient opportunity to fight the disease due to a delayed diagnosis.
Liberty first experienced symptoms such as fatigue and nausea in May 2024, followed by unexplained breast issues. Initially, her symptoms were attributed to hormonal problems, mastitis, or an abscess, with doctors stating it was "highly unlikely" to be cancer. Despite persistent symptoms, including swelling of her left breast, it took three months of appointments before a biopsy on August 21, 2024, confirmed the cancer.
During this period, Liberty was in significant pain and had difficulty walking. Due to a lack of available beds at a specialist hospital, she was sent home before eventually being admitted to A&E. Surgery on September 10 removed her breast and surrounding tissue down to the ribcage, along with lymph nodes. Complications arose during her hospital stay, including pneumonia and blood clots.
By November 2024, Liberty was informed that the cancer had spread to her left lung and was incurable. She began palliative chemotherapy, but in May 2025, a new lump appeared near her surgical scar, indicating further progression of the disease. Liberty then made the decision to stop treatment and return home for end-of-life care.
Her mother is now supporting the Child Cancer Smart campaign, led by CCLG: The Children & Young People's Cancer Association. This campaign aims to improve the recognition of soft tissue sarcomas in children and young people by introducing new guidelines for healthcare professionals. Soft tissue sarcomas account for about 7% of childhood cancers, but their symptoms can mimic more common conditions, leading to diagnostic delays.
Dr. Sharna Shanmugavadivel, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor leading the campaign, highlighted that the time to diagnosis for soft tissue sarcoma is strongly associated with survival rates in children, yet it remains one of the longest diagnostic periods among childhood cancers. The guidelines aim to address issues such as lumps being misattributed to injuries without clear trauma history, mistaken for lipomas or bruises, or continued diagnoses of infection despite a lack of response to antibiotics. The campaign emphasizes the importance of further investigation when a condition does not improve as expected or worsens.