A young Black woman in the U.K. says she was dismissed by doctors four separate times before finally being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer — and only after she lied to get the tests she needed.
Nothando Nhliziyo, a 22-year-old hairstylist from Leicester, England, is now speaking out and urging others to advocate fiercely for their health after her repeated attempts to seek care were brushed off, ultimately delaying a diagnosis of stage 4 angiosarcoma — a rare and aggressive cancer that forms in the lining of blood or lymph vessels.
“My whole thing is to raise awareness for this, for young people, for old people, for everyone to know that sarcoma is very dangerous and it creeps upon you. It sometimes has no symptoms. You cannot feel anything until it’s too late, which is what happened to me,” she said in a recent TikTok.
“I spent a whole year fine, and then towards the end of the year, I started to have this crippling, chronic back pain. And next thing I know, doctors are telling me that there’s nothing they can do about it,” she continued. “It’s at stage four, which is so scary to think about, because it’s like you have your whole life and suddenly it comes to a pause because of something that came out of nowhere.”
In an interview with The Sun, the twenty-something shared that her back pain first began in November 2024, and despite returning to doctors several more times through December 2024 and January 2025, she was repeatedly dismissed with nothing but pain medication. As the pain grew unbearable, she finally hatched the idea to tell a small white lie — saying she’d fallen down the stairs — and that’s when doctors finally ordered the proper scans. Imaging in January 2025 revealed multiple lesions in her spine and pelvis, along with a tumor on her left adrenal gland, and after additional testing, her medical team confirmed she had stage 4 angiosarcoma.
Nhliziyo said that because the disease was centered in her spine, specialists told her there were limited treatment options, and her prognosis is not favorable.
“They didn’t give me any hope,” she said. “They started me on palliative care and I thought, ‘Are they not going to at least give me some options?’”
“They did offer me some radiotherapy and chemo, and I had a lot of medication for pain management,” she added. “But by the time they told me what it was, they were already giving me the impression that they had given up on me.”
As she began treatment, she launched a GoFundMe to help cover her medical needs, travel, and living expenses.
“Life has drastically changed in so many ways, physically, mentally and emotionally. From being a normal 22-year-old enjoying life running my own business as a hairstylist, going out with friends and traveling to having stage 4 rare cancer,” she wrote on the fundraiser. “Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have expected this.”
She’s also using her social media platforms to document her health journey — regularly posting updates, sharing details of her treatments, and even going live to speak directly with followers. Her hope, she says, is that younger people take their symptoms seriously and never ignore sudden lumps, unexplained pain, or changes in their body.
At the same time, she’s urging people — especially young Black patients, who research has proven are often dismissed until it’s nearly too late— to push for answers by any means necessary.
“My experience has unfortunately taught me that if you have to exaggerate, and if you have to lie, do it,” she told The Sun. “I’ve seen so many cases where GPs and doctors don’t take people seriously until it’s too late, until they’re in their coffin. Look at me now. I’m at stage four and people are talking to me about hospice care, when I could have been at stage one, I could’ve been treated earlier.”
“It’s never a waste of the GP’s time,” she added. “No matter what, do not downplay your own health, your symptoms, or how you feel.”
