Sara McGarvey was diagnosed with a rare cancer which was only spotted after friends insisted she saw a doctor
A mum suffering with a swollen eye was forced to have it removed after cancer pushed it out of the socket – leaving her with a bulging eyeball. Sara McGarvey first noticed her right eye was swollen when she did a face mask one night in January 2023.
The senior social worker brushed it off until discussing the symptoms with concerned colleagues the next day who pushed her to visit an eye clinic. After a CT scan, MRI scan and two biopsies, Sara was diagnosed with undifferentiated round cell soft tissue sarcoma – a rare form of cancer – in June 2023.
By that point the tumour, which was located in the top corner of her right eyelid, had caused Sara’s eyeball to ‘turn sideways’ and bulge further and further out of her head. The mum-of-one feared ‘she was going to die’ and underwent five gruelling rounds of chemotherapy in a desperate attempt to shrink the cancer.
After the chemotherapy was unsuccessful, Sara had surgery to remove her right eyeball, as well as the tumour, in November 2023. To ensure that the cancer had been removed completely, Sara underwent seven weeks of proton beam therapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester in February 2024.
The 36-year-old rang the bell to signify the end of her treatment on April 12th 2024 and received the news that she was cancer free in May 2024. Sara credits her colleagues with ‘saving her life’ as they pushed her to visit the eye clinic.
Now cancer-free for more than a year, Sara is encouraging anyone who finds a lump or anything unusual to visit their doctor as soon as possible and not wait to get it checked.
Sara, from County Down, Northern Ireland, said: “The cancer had pushed the eyeball out of my head so it was protruding. It was grim. It got progressively worse between January and April [2023]. It didn’t necessarily move out, it kind of turned.
“It got progressively worse and it took six months to get an actual diagnosis. For sarcoma that’s relatively fast – people wait years for a diagnosis and by that stage it’s too late.
“I remember lying there in silence in the bath one night. I turned off the taps and it was just quiet. There was no noise – I didn’t put any music on. I remember just saying ‘please don’t let me die, please don’t let me die’.
“At the time the chemo wasn’t attacking the tumour, it wasn’t getting smaller and it wasn’t getting bigger, so they decided that surgery would be the best option.” On November 30th 2023, Sara underwent surgery to have the tumour removed, along with her right eye.
Sara said: “At the time I didn’t care that my eye was going to be removed, I just wanted rid of the cancer. I just needed it to be gone.
“My son was two at the time so to see me one day with two eyes and then the next day with one was probably quite difficult for him, but he managed it extremely well. I’m very lucky, I’ve had my son, my husband Andrew, and my mum Mary, who’s a nurse – if it wasn’t for her then it would have been so much more difficult.”
Sara says that being there to see her son Michael McGarvey, now aged four, grow up was her main concern and she was ‘overjoyed’ when she was given the all-clear in May 2024. Sara said: “I can’t even describe it. It’s indescribable relief.”
She added: “I think for me a lot of my fear and anxiety was around Michael. When I was first diagnosed, my head went to protecting him and making sure that he was impacted as little as possible by what was going to happen next.
“The fact that I could just go home and hug him and kiss him and play with him and be happy and healthy and watch him grow up and go to primary school. These are all of the things that for a period of time I didn’t think I was going to be able to do. I was overjoyed, I was excited about what the future held.”
Sara credits her colleagues with ‘saving her life’ – and each year on the anniversary of a diagnosis she thanks them over text for pushing her to go for the check-up. Sara said: “If my friends at work didn’t make me go to be seen [at the eye clinic] things could have been so different.
“The sarcoma had the potential to grow very quickly and spread very quickly and if it wasn’t caught when it was caught, the outcome would have been very much worse. Every year on the anniversary of my diagnosis I text them to say thank you. They did absolutely save my life, 100%, it was massive.”
Sara, who is is now in the process of seeing a specialist doctor to have a prosthetic eye fitted, is encouraging anyone else who finds a lump to go to their doctor. Sara said: “When I had the surgery to remove it I didn’t want Michael to be afraid of how I looked.
“They used the top eyelid to close it over but then in February it started to open, which is why I now have a big hole. I have my first plastics appointment next week. Initially I was told I might not be eligible for a prosthetic but the consultant thinks they can make me one, which is exciting.
“Michael starts primary school this year in September so being able to look normal for him going to school is something I’m really, really excited about.” She added: “If anyone has a lump I’d say see a doctor straight away. Don’t wait because I would have waited and then it could have been so much worse.”
What is undifferentiated round cells soft tissue sarcoma
According to the NHS undifferentiated round cell soft tissue sarcoma is an extremely rare form of sarcoma. It can start almost anywhere inside the soft tissue of the body including muscles, fat, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons.
The most common symptom is a lump somewhere on your body which is usually solid to the touch, painless and hard to move around under the skin. Soft tissue sarcomas are usually treated using surgery and radiotherapy.
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