A Life-changing Second Look for Robin

Sarcoma is a rare cancer, it can happen to anyone at any time.

83-year-old Robin Hatfield – like many others – had only heard of the word sarcoma but was not aware of what it was before he was diagnosed with Angiosarcoma in early 2022. He discovered black lumps on the top of his scalp and went to his GP to get them checked out, but unfortunately, his GP could not identify the lumps. “He didn’t know what they could be, he suggested they may be hematomas or that I struck my head, but I couldn’t recall that, so we left that there” Robin recalls after his first visit.

A month after his initial visit, Robin continued to be concerned about the lumps and was referred to his dermatologist. “He was very concerned when he saw them,” said Robin upon seeing the dermatologist for the first time, who said they “need to get on to this straight away.”

Robin’s dermatologist took some biopsies of the mysterious lumps and sent them off to the pathologist for review. After the results were returned, Robin was told that he had Angiosarcoma – a sarcoma that forms in the lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels that often affects the skin and may appear as a bruise-like lesion - and would require urgent surgery to remove the lumps. Robin’s dermatology clinic secured him an urgent appointment at Wollongong Private, where      he underwent a PET scan to ensure there had been no metastasis. After seeing there had been no spread of the sarcoma, Robin was told by his surgeon he would have to have nearly all of his scalp removed to get rid of the sarcoma.

Robin was fortunate enough to have a quick turnaround time from diagnosis to surgery. Robin found this time to be very stressful, “They gave me a book on sarcoma treatment to read before surgery but it was all a pretty big blur, it happened so fast I didn’t really have the chance to read anything” said Robin, who mainly relied on online sources to help clarify what his diagnosis was and what it meant to have a sarcoma.

The surgery was a success, but Robin found his new appearance to be an adjustment. “When I woke up and saw what I looked like it was a bit of a shock, a big lump out the side of my head” he said Fortunately for Robin, there was very little pain after the surgery – the only area of pain he felt was from where they had removed the muscle from his back to replace on his head – and he was able to recover quickly.

A cancer battle can be a lonely and scary experience, but Robin wants everyone going through a sarcoma journey to be strong as “who can really know the end result” and to keep your loved ones close to you during your journey. Robin wants to use his experience to help people become familiar with what sarcoma is and to go and get any unusual bumps or spots on your body checked out before it is too late.