STEVE Tostdevine was the "fittest 77-year-old you could meet" but within weeks of discovering a small lump on his thigh, he was gone. His rapid decline left his widow, June, reeling from the shocking loss and heartbroken his cancer hadn't been spotted sooner. "If Steve had been diagnosed earlier, then maybe he would have had a chance," June, who is 62, said.
Born in London, Steve had run pubs and clubs his entire life. He and June had been together for 30 years and the grandfather was enjoying retirement in Tyneside, Durham. Described by his wife as “the life and soul of every party”, Steve’s health went rapidly downhill from May 2023.
Read more on sarcoma It was around that time he started feeling an ache in his leg and noticed a lump on his thigh . “He also felt really tired,” said June, which was unlike Steve as he used to walk miles with his dog every day. His wife begged him to see a GP , who told Steve the bump was likely a muscle strain or hernia .
When he started spending all day in bed, he had some blood tests taken which suggested he had an infection . Most read in Health The lump on his thigh had also grown. On June 9, he was admitted to emergency care and within four days he had lost three stone.
June was told that Steve’s scans meant it was likely he had sarcoma - a type of cancer that grows in the bones or tissue. The scans were sent to a cancer specialist for analysis and Steve waited to get a biopsy the following week. While they waited for the res.