Hepatocellular liver cancer

Sea58

Hi, my husband of 41 years died of HCC on January 20, 2024, 26 days after being diagnosed with liver cancer. He had both a CT Scan and MRI in March 2023 which showed no masses or nodules. We are heartbroken and devastated about how fast and aggressive this cancer spread. He was a non smoker, drank an occasional beer on holidays and did not have hepatitis. He was a very healthy and strong man. He received his first immunotherapy treatment 5 days before his death.

Sea58

I am so heartbroken and would like to hear any similar stories. I don't understand how this all happened so quickly.

syvrudj

I’m so sorry to hear about your loss, my prayers are with you. Hcc is an extremely aggressive cancer that is caused by many factors including hepatitis and non-alcoholic Fatty liver disease. My mom had a ct done back In April 2024 for her veins in her legs and at that time the dr seen a mass on her liver that was approximately 3.4 cm sent the report to her primary care doctor who requested an MRI which was scheduled in June 19, 2024. On Friday June 21 they called my mom saying the mass on her liver is 7.8 cm and they will call to schedule a biopsy within the next week. Within 24 hours of that phone call my mom felt funny so I called 911, she arrived at the hospital only to find out she was internally bleeding from the tumor that ruptured. She was med flighted to Dallas within a couple hours. She was in icu for 17days. They did a central hepatectomy and removed her gallbladder. Her surgical margins were all benign however with how aggressive this cancer is, she’s required to do immunotherapy for a year because if she doesn’t it has a 70% chance of it coming back. This kind of cancer is aggressive meaning it can appear at anytime and grow 5cm in less then 2 months. Again I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. Sending love to you!

Normalyn

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1715286#Comment_1715286

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1717637#Comment_1717637

I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. I too am at stage 4 of HCC and have been battling it for three years. The first round of chemo was one year with two years of immunotherapy which all seemed to buy me time but now it has come back with a vengeance being my liver tumor is now larger and I now have cancer in my abdomen & lungs. I’m thankful for the time I got but end result is there is no cure so I’ve opted for no more treatments & just going to live out the rest of my life quietly with my family. My thought and prayers from me to you and your family.

johnson458p

My heart goes out to you all. I had Hemangioendothelioma of the Liver. It's also a rare cancer. The blood vessels running through my Liver was lined with cancerous cells. My Liver was in great shape except for the blood vessels running through it. Like you husband, I was in great shape, I ran 5 miles a day, I ate healthy, I didn't drink or smoke, so it was very hard for me to listen to a doctor tell me I had this disease. I mean, I felt pain from 2015 until it was diagnosed in 2017 when it finally popped up on an MRI. I carried the disease in my Liver, and it grew until it was ready to pop up on an MRI in 2017. Pickles were my favorite, always craved dill pickles not knowing that at any time those very dill pickles I often enjoyed could have killed me at any moment. So many things I ate and did, doctors said could have caused a tumor to rupture. In 2017, I just so happened to think I was injured while transferring a patient from wheelchair to bed and went to the ER. They did an MRI of the area and did not believe what they saw themselves. They told me they didn't have time to comfort me, get over it and let's move on, "We are in a rush against time, if we are going to try to save your life, I need you to just sign the papers now and we can send a social worker or psych. doc to help you through this, but right now we really just need you to sign and give us the green light for a biopsy. I suggest you call a family member to come pick you up because you cannot allow you to drive with being told what I just told you, do you understand?" I fussed 10 mins. before I gave in, signed and had my best friend come pick me up, after signing the paperwork, they wheeled me to the ER Lobby and left me to wait for my BFF. About a week later, I was scheduled for a biopsy. Results came back positive 3 times from 3 different Cancer Hospitals. I was amazed, shocked, emotionally and physically hurt. Here I was physically fit, but Cancer was living in inside me waiting to show its ugly head. My heart goes out to you all, I am truly sorry for all that you have lost, and all your loved ones suffered and a continue to suffer from any disease that affects the Liver because seems like anything affecting the Liver, once diagnosed more pretty quickly and has a mind of its own. You all are in my prayers.

johnson458p