Lesley Turner: ‘Brave’ mom dies from ‘incurable’ rare cancer that even her nurses hadn't heard of
SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND: A 40-year-old woman, Lesley Turner, died from a rare type of cancer. Even the nurses treating her had never heard of it. Lesley was diagnosed with Angiosarcoma in November 2021 after doctors found a lump in her breast.
According to Yorkshire Live, Lesley and her husband Rob were told that her rare cancer was "incurable" and several staff at Sheffield's Northern General and Weston Park hospitals said they'd never heard of this cancer before. The devasted husband said, "We knew pretty quickly that it was serious. However Lesley, "just smiled and said, 'I'm still here.'"
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Who was Lesley Turner?
The mother-of-one, an eight-year-old son Liam, stayed strong throughout months of chemotherapy and asked the doctors not to tell her how much time she had left to live. The husband said, "She had chemotherapy for about four months but she always had a smile on her face and said 'if you don't laugh, you'll cry' - so we tried to just get on with it."
The 41-year-old described his late wife, who he met in Glasgow, back in 2007, and got married on June 14, 2014, as "kind." "She only found the fun side of things - she was just fun and brilliant to be around. She was genuine person, not fake. And she always let you know how she felt," the husband stated.
Lesley spent her last days at St Luke's and told Rob if he ever wished to raise money after her death, he should donate it to the hospice. "They took really good care - not only of Lesley but all the visitors including me. They gave me a bed and fed and watered me - they took really good care of everybody." Following his wife's death, he started a GoFundMe page and so far has collected around $4700.
Speaking about their son Liam, Rob said, "It's been tough for him but he has lots of friends at school helping him and a loving family around him - but with Mother's Day coming up and cardmaking at school he's feeling it a bit more. He's getting through it with my help and with help from his grandparents."
What is Angiosarcoma?
According to the United States government's National Cancer Insititute, MyPART, Angiosarcoma is an extremely rare type of cancer that develops from cells lining the blood vessels and lymph vessels. The website states, "For every million people, one will be diagnosed with angiosarcoma per year in the US. Angiosarcomas make up about 1% to 2% of all sarcomas [cancer that begins in bone or in the soft tissues of the body]. They are most common in people over the age of 70 but can happen at any age."
As per Cleveland Clinic, angiosarcoma most commonly affects the skin, breasts, liver, head, and neck. It looks like a bruised, purple-ish area on the skin, states MyPART.