A family are calling for better cancer care after their daughter died following what they believe were critical delays in her diagnosis and treatment.
Sharon and Peter Vincent, from Wokingham in Berkshire, have spoken of the hole left in their lives by Francesca, a recruitment consultant described as ‘the life and soul of the party’, who was diagnosed with soft tissue Ewing sarcoma in March 2023. It is a cancer so rare it affects fewer than 15 people a year in this country. Francesca died in July 2024. She was just 35 years old.
In January 2023, Francesca was experiencing stomach pains. Initially, she saw doctors who told her to take laxatives but then she went to A&E and had an ultrasound. It was suggested she had gallstones. She continued to feel unwell and, at the start of February, was very dehydrated and went again to A&E.
After a CT scan, she was told she had a 10cm lesion on her pancreas and was kept in hospital over the weekend. She was told her lesion might be malignant but she waited a month for a biopsy. On 4 February, her family said she was told she would need to be treated at a cancer specialist hospital in Oxford but wasn’t referred.
On 25 February, Francesca was in severe pain and was taken by ambulance to hospital. After several hours on a ward, she was then sent home. But the next day, she was vomiting and returned to hospital. She spent 14 nights on a ward and one in intensive care and received a diagnosis of soft tissue Ewing sarcoma in March 2023. Sharon was told her daughter was inoperable and unable to receive chemotherapy.
Sharon said: ‘There were many delays while she deteriorated in front of them once she was on a ward. She was admitted twice previously and discharged even though she had a large mass on her pancreas.’
But then Francesca was transferred to the specialist hospital in Oxford to start chemotherapy – though she was still not expected to survive. However, the treatment saw her tumour, which had grown to 20cms, shrink to 4cms. She also had 20 sessions of radiotherapy but that did not further reduce the cancer.
Francesca was discharged from the hospital and, early in 2024, returned to her job as a Talent Acquisition Consultant at the John Lewis Partnership. She also moved from Lower Earley and bought a flat to be near her parents in Wokingham. ‘She was so brave and positive. She never lost hope and lived life to the fullest,’ said Sharon.
Then, in June 2024, Francesca was told her cancer had spread to her liver, and she restarted chemotherapy. Her condition seemingly improved when, shockingly, she died the next month.
Her ‘sudden and unexpected’ death was on 10 July. She was in hospital when she haemorrhaged in front of her father, Peter. He reflected: ‘If she had better care at the hospital initially, she possibly would have been with us for longer.’ Though the family did praise the way she was looked after at the hospital in Oxford. ‘She felt very safe there,’ said Sharon.
Peter described Francesca as ‘a gutsy little girl, the life and soul of the party’. Her funeral at Corpus Christi Church in Wokingham was attended by 300 people.
Francesca’s family have raised £20,000 for Sarcoma UK in support of the charity’s work to raise awareness of sarcoma and to advocate for better care for patients like her.
Helen Stradling, Sarcoma UK’s Support Line Manager, said: ‘Sadly, Francesca’s story is not unique. We hear from too many sarcoma patients and their families who have experienced significant delays in getting a diagnosis. Because sarcoma is so rare, it can be easily missed or mistaken for something else – and in fast-growing tumours like Francesca’s, every week matters. That is why raising awareness among clinicians, particularly when a young person presents with an abdominal mass, is so central to what we do. We are incredibly grateful to Sharon, Peter and all of Francesca’s loved ones for raising such a remarkable amount of money in her memory. Francesca was an extraordinary young woman, and her family’s determination to turn their grief into something positive will genuinely help other families facing a sarcoma diagnosis in the future. That kind of support means everything to a charity like ours.’
