Sarcoma Won’t Wait: Uma Paul

’No-one believed me. I went to my GP every day for a whole week and was told the pain I was feeling was psychological. The pain got so bad that I couldn’t even walk.’ ’About the BAME side of things, I do think there is a lot more education that needs to be done. Speaking about people from my experience, I’m not sure they fully understand, that if you have cancer, there is help and support out there. It really seems to be more about what other people will think [about you having cancer].’ Late diagnosis is a real issue for sarcoma cancers. During a working lifetime, a GP may see many hundreds of benign tumours, but can only expect to see one or two patients with bone or soft tissue sarcomas. Given its rarity, it can be difficult to recognise the symptoms described by the patients as being those of a suspected sarcoma. This means that possible sarcoma patients are either sent away or put on unnecessary treatment for another condition. Sarcoma won’t wait.