A young cancer fighter has been grappling with the life-altering impact of a rare and incurable form of thyroid cancer that she says may have been growing for the majority of her life.
Saskia Clark dealt with a slow deterioration of her vocal cords as well as surgeries that have left striking incisions.
Saskia had to reshape her life after she found that her slow-burning cancer had been growing since she was a child.
Saskia told: “I was diagnosed with stage four medullary thyroid cancer, a slow-growing cancer, which my consultant believes has been around since I was a child.
“The cancer is now incurable, and I am navigating how my life looks, in a world where I will always need to be vigilant of the growth in my body.”
Originally from Manchester, UK, Saskia had been documenting her cancer journey through a series of viral videos, offering an intimate glimpse into the struggles and strength that have come with her diagnosis.
After experiencing persistent chest pain for 18 months and significant unexplained weight loss, she visited her GP.
After going through a series of scans, it was revealed that she had thyroid cancer.
Multiple tests later, she learned that it was a rare type of thyroid cancer that was called Medullary Thyroid Cancer.
Finding out that it’s a slow-growing cancer, she was told there was a chance that the cancer had been around since she was a child.
She explained that she was diagnosed on 2nd August 2024, finding out just a week later that Medullary Thyroid Cancer is one of the rarest types of thyroid cancer, making up 3% to 4% of all cases.
Unfortunately, Saskia told how she had since learned that the cancer is incurable as she looked to navigate life with the rarest form of the disease.
Since her diagnosis, Saskia told how she felt like a different person.
Loving her job before finding out she had cancer, she found life without work challenging and the lack of socialising since surgery even harder.
She explained that within the surgery, two parts of the disease cannot be removed due to how close it is to certain nerves and has to be left where it is.
The surgeries also affected Saskia’s mobility as she needed to be in a wheelchair every time she left the house.
Posting her content to social media, Saskia told how there has been a lot of shock to her disease and the striking surgery incisions.
She said: “I hadn’t really prepared for how major the surgery was.
“I knew that it was going to be about 11 hours, and I knew the recovery period was three to four months.
“The cancer is now incurable, and I am navigating how my life looks, in a world where I will always need to be vigilant of the growth in my body.
“As someone who absolutely loves their job, it has been so hard to navigate.”
Saskia added: “I threw myself into life in the beginning, as I knew once I had my surgery, life would be very different.
“I went on holiday with my friends, went out with my friends and family as much as possible, had weekly date nights with my boyfriend and just overall tried to be as social as possible whilst navigating everything.
“Once my surgery took place, I have had a massive life change, in terms of my mobility and my ability to do basic tasks.
“My vocal cords were damaged in surgery too so even speaking is hard for me.
“I will always live with this and will have to monitor the growth for the rest of my life and then act on any worrying growth with applicable surgery or drug treatment.”