A 35-year-old mother of three tragically passed away just 18 days after being diagnosed with liver cancer, leaving her family devastated and highlighting the dangers of missed warning signs.
Sian Ashcroft, from the UK, was told in January 2024 that she had terminal cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer.
The Mayo Clinic warns that it can occur in people of any age, and "is often diagnosed when it's advanced, making successful treatment difficult to achieve".
Doctors gave her just months to live, but her condition deteriorated rapidly, and her family had barely begun to process the diagnosis before she was tragically gone.
Now, Sian’s heartbroken mother - Sue Dowling - is sharing her daughter’s story to raise awareness of CCA, with the help of the liver cancer charity AMMF, which warns that late diagnoses are tragically common.
Missed Symptoms and a Delayed Diagnosis
Sian’s health issues first appeared in the spring of 2023, when she attempted to donate blood but was informed that she was anemic.
As a result of this she began taking iron supplements, assuming it was nothing serious.
Then, by August 2023, a second red flag emerged — abdominal pain.
At first, Sian dismissed it as food poisoning, but when the pain persisted, she sought medical help.
Doctors initially suspected gallstones, and she underwent a procedure to insert a stent in her bile duct. However, it wasn’t until a follow-up scan in November 2023 that doctors discovered a lesion on her liver. Still, it took another two months before she was officially diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma.
By then, it was too late.
“She Never Lost Her Sense of Humor”
Sian’s shocking prognosis left her family reeling, but her strength never wavered, her mother said.
"She had become increasingly poorly, with frequent visits to her GP and time spent in hospital, but her diagnosis came too late to save her," Sue told BBC News.
"Despite this, she remained incredibly positive," the heartbroken mom continued. "She never lost her sense of humor, she was exceptionally brave and, above all, she never stopped thinking about her family."
A Deadly Cancer That Often Goes Undetected
According to AMMF chief executive Helen Morement, Sian’s experience is tragically not "uncommon" and is part of a larger, deeply concerning pattern.
Only 21% of CCA cases are diagnosed early, at stage one or two, meaning the vast majority of patients aren’t diagnosed until their cancer has already advanced.
"Often, patients don't fit the profile of what many assume a liver cancer patient should look like," Morement explained. "People are dying because there is a lack of knowledge of what is available."
She urged doctors to be more proactive when patients report unusual symptoms that don’t go away.
"If someone comes to a doctor with these unusual symptoms and they're not clearing up, they should run a liver test, which will pick up if there is something wrong."
Sian’s story serves as a painful reminder of how deadly cholangiocarcinoma can be when diagnosed too late. Her family is now hoping that her experience can help save others, pushing for greater awareness, faster diagnoses, and better screening for this often-overlooked cancer.
Our thoughts continue to go out to Sian's family at this time.
For more information about CCA, click here.