Leeds Teaching Hospitals: Mum-of-two cancer-free after UK’s second liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer
A mum-of-two is cancer-free after surgery at Leeds Teaching Hospitals - becoming only the second person in the country to have a liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer.
Vicki Steyert, 37 and a mum-of-two from Wigan in Greater Manchester, is the second person in the country to have a liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer. The operation and previous treatment – chemotherapy, targeted treatment, and bowel surgery – mean she’s now cancer-free.
She had her cancer treatment at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist cancer centre in Manchester, and her organ transplant at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest transplant centres in the country.
Vicki, who works in pharmacy deployment and has been married to her husband Rob for nine years, went to the doctor when she was pregnant with her second son, Charlie, in the summer of 2020. Her eldest son, Alex, was just four at the time. She noticed that her bowel habits had changed and that there was blood in her poo.
“They called me back the same day, and then a CT scan and colonoscopy confirmed that I had advanced bowel cancer that had spread to my liver. Charlie was just six weeks old at the time, so the cancer had been there throughout my pregnancy. It’s a miracle I had no complications and a healthy baby,” Vicki said.
“I was only 33 and a mum to a newborn and a four-year-old, so even though I had suspected that something was wrong, to be given that news was devastating.”
Vicki started on chemotherapy and a targeted treatment called panitumumab in August 2021, and her cancer markers, which had initially been at 500, came right down to three. Her team were so happy with her progress that they wanted to see if she was eligible to have part of her liver removed (a resection) to try and get rid of the cancer.
Unfortunately, after many scans, she was told this wasn’t possible as her cancer had spread too far. She then got a second opinion from a surgeon in Scotland, who confirmed that she wasn’t eligible for a resection but that the NHS was shortly going to be offering liver transplants to certain patients with bowel cancer, and that she might be eligible.
She had to be doing well on treatment for two years before she could be considered for the operation, and she hit this milestone in August 2023. In total, she had around 60 sessions of treatment. She was added to the waiting list in February 2024 and had her surgery at Leeds in the summer.
The team at Leeds is part of a national NHS liver transplant programme for people with non-liver primary cancers and is one of six dedicated centres in the country.
“My team at Leeds didn’t just look after me, they thought about my family as well. They gave me a children’s book so that we could talk to Alex about what was going on. We thought he might be a bit freaked out but loved it and brought it to school to show his friends,” she said.
Unfortunately, her recovery after the operation wasn’t straightforward. The first liver transplant didn’t work, so she had to have an emergency transplant a few days later. She had quite a few complications and ended up in hospital for around four months.
Despite all the challenges she faced, her second surgery was successful, and Vicki’s most recent scans show that she’s still cancer-free. She and her medical team are optimistic about the future.
Vicki added: “I’m so grateful to both families who agreed to donate their loved one’s liver – they’ve given me the greatest gift. I can’t thank my teams at The Christie and Leeds enough for giving me a second chance at life. Dr Marti, my Christie consultant, really listened to me and understood what I needed.”
Dr Rebecca Jones, Vicki’s hepatologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “This program is a new one and still in its early days, but we’re delighted with how Vicki is getting on. Transplantation is successful for most recipients but, when serious complications arise, such as those that Vicki experienced, it can be a long road to recovery.
Vicki faced everything with a fortitude, determination and resilience that inspired us all. Everyone who looked after her looks forward to seeing her in the outpatient setting now, hearing of her excursions with her family and watching her return to a more normal life.
“As Vicki’s story clearly shows, organ donation saves lives. It’s important that people sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register and make their decision known to their loved ones. Families will always be consulted on any decisions around organ donation.”