Grateful Barnsley mum thought leg pain was sciatica – then Sheffield doctors operated for rare cancer

But she was shocked when a rare cancer was found, with Sheffield doctors called in to operate.

Now she has praised Sheffield Teaching Hospitals for the care she received after she was treated for the condition at the city’s Northern General Hospital.

Lisa Wolff, 52, says she had no idea the “agonising” pain she was suffering in her pelvis and lower legs was actually a rare malignant tumour, called a liposarcoma, growing from the fat cells in her pelvis.

The pain, which she put originally down to her sciatic pain, started as “tingling sensations”, but a year later she booked an appointment at her GP in December 2021, who referred her to Barnsley Hospital’s gynaecology department.

An MRI scan revealed a large tumour, which had grown to 13cm by 9cm in size. However, no pathological reason for the tumour’s location could be found, so another MRI was ordered, and Lisa was referred to the specialist sarcoma team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals’ Northern General Hospital.

“We’d been looking at gynaecological reasons, so to be told it was sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, it was really frightening,” said Lisa, who was now finding it impossible to walk or do day-to-day tasks. “By the summer my life as I knew it had completely stopped due to the pain in my leg and buttocks and all through summer I was in horrible pain.”

Lisa, of Royston, Barnsley, was immediately referred to the specialist sarcoma team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, who told her there was no choice but to remove the tumour completely.

“I was immediately referred to the sarcoma team at Sheffield Northern General to a very humble specialist surgeon called Mr Ahmed Al-Mukhtar. The sarcoma I had was a slow growing tumour called a well differentiated liposarcoma. Most people don’t know about them until they start to press on other tissues or organs, and they are not normally diagnosed or cause any symptoms until they get bigger. It is rare, and I was in a good amount of pain. Mr Al-Mukhtar and the whole sarcoma team have been so amazing including the sarcoma clinical nurses who must have dreaded opening their inbox as I surely was there with more questions which they always answered to relieve my worries.”

The five-hour operation to remove Lisa’s tumour took place in September 2022. However, the operation, led by consultant hepatobiliary and retroperitoneal sarcoma surgeon Ahmed Al-Mukthar, with support from consultant plastic surgeon Victoria Giblin and consultant general and colorectal surgeon Paul Skinner, wasn’t straightforward, as a third of the liposarcoma had grown through Lisa’s sciatic notch – the small hole in either side of the pelvis.

The tumour had wrapped itself around the nerves that control mobility in the lower leg and foot, with the surgeons having to sever the nerves during the surgery to free the tumour.

“The thought and planning that went into that operation was just incredible. I can’t express how I felt when they took the tumour out. The surgeons, Mr Ahmed Al-Mukthar, Miss Victoria Giblin and Mr Paul Skinner were so wonderful, and the nurses, health care assistants, tea lady and specialists second to none. Nothing was overlooked during my stay. I can’t praise them enough,” Lisa added.

“I have no words for what they did for me and my family. The sarcoma specialist clinical nurses Mrs Kate Evans, Mrs Gill Quarrell and clinical nurse specialist David Ellis swiftly answered my every question with reassurance. I owe them everything. They have been and still are amazing. I can’t thank them enough.”

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is a specialist centre for the treatment and diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma, looking after patients in the Yorkshire area as well as from the North Lincolnshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire regions.

Around one per cent of all cancers are classified as sarcomas, which form in soft tissues and the bone.