A mother-of-three whose stomach pains were mistaken for food poisoning and gallstones was in fact suffering deadly liver cancer — and died just days after finally receiving a diagnosis.
Sian Ashcroft, from Ormskirk near Liverpool, was just 35 when she lost her life last year, following almost a year of dismissing the telltale signs.
The first red flag, which became apparent in the spring of 2023, was an unusual iron deficiency, which was flagged by an NHS assistant when she went to give blood.
The problem is a well-known complication of liver cancer, as the disease affects the blood’s ability to clot, causing patients to bleed out with minor injuries and lose iron.
Thinking little of it, Ms Ashcroft began taking iron tablets to address the deficiency.
But a few months later, in August 2023, she started suffering abdominal pain, which she assumed was caused by food poisoning.
Concerned, she visited a GP, who referred her for hospital tests.
Doctors suspected gallstones; hardened deposits of cholesterol that form in the gallbladder, which cause nausea, vomiting and, less commonly, the life-threatening reaction, jaundice.
The pain eventually intensified, leading doctors to admit Ms Ashcroft for surgery to widen her bile duct, where it was thought the gallstones had become stuck.
Sian Ashcroft, from Ormskirk near Liverpool died last year just 18 days after she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a form of liver cancer
Ms Ashcroft’s mum (left) with Ms Ashcroft’s sister, Lauren Dowling (right), who took part in a sponsored cold water dip with Ms Ashcroft’s nephew (centre) to raise funds for AMMF on Traeth Bychan beach, Anglesey
But soon afterwards, medics called her back into the hospital for a follow-up appointment to inform her they’d noticed something sinister on scans — a 2cm growth on her liver, as well as several smaller lesions.
Despite doctors’ concerns, and discussions that chemotherapy may be needed, I Ms Ashcroft didn’t receive a formal diagnosis for another two months.
In January 2024 she was finally given the devastating news that she had cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) — an especially deadly form of liver cancer that begins in the tubes of the bile duct, which sit inside the liver.
Doctors said the disease was terminal, and Ms Ashcroft likely had around two months to live.
‘Sian’s prognosis was an incredible shock for everyone,’ her mum, Sue Dowling told the BBC.
‘She had become increasingly poorly, with frequent visits to her GP and time spent in hospital, but her diagnosis came too late to save her.’
Symptoms include feeling tired, having a high temperature, skin turning yellow (jaundice), loss of appetite, feeling sick and abdominal pain, according to the NHS.
In the UK, around 3,100 people are diagnosed with the disease every year, according to Cancer Research.
Just two to nine per cent of patients will live for more than five years after their diagnosis, data shows.
Ms Ashcroft’s story is all too familiar, according to CCA charity AMMF.
AMMF chief executive, Helen Morement, explained that in many cases patients do not fit the ‘profile’ of what a person with liver cancer looks like
Patients are often diagnosed at a late stage and medics can be unaware of the treatments available, resulting in more than half of patients receiving no cancer-specific treatment at all, according to the charity.
What’s more, GPs often lack time with a patient to consider other less likely diagnoses, The Royal College of General Practitioners warned.
AMMF chief executive Helen Morement said that in many cases patients do not fit the ‘profile’ of what a person with liver cancer looks like.
‘Unlike the other more well-known type of liver cancer, there isn’t an established link to liver cirrhosis, viral hepatitis, alcohol or other lifestyle factors,’ she said.
Today, as part of World Cholangiocarcinoma Day, Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building is set to turn purple to raise awareness for AMMF’s Rethink Liver Cancer campaign and in memory of Ms Ashcroft.
The campaign is calling for people to rethink the symptoms of the disease to help get earlier diagnosis.
Ms Morement said those with unusual symptoms should undergo a liver test that can pick up potentially alarming signs.
