Medics found too many tumours in Chandler’s lungs to count
Steven Smith Content Editor
09:24, 31 Oct 2025Updated 12:02, 31 Oct 2025
Chandler Heatley went to the doctor when he noticed blood in his urine in April(Image: Lisa Heatley/SWNS)
A 26-year-old man’s UTI symptoms turned out to be terminal prostate cancer. Chandler Heatley went to A&E when he noticed blood in his urine in April and was given antibiotics and drank cranberry juice to treat a UTI.
Within a month he began to get pain in his lower abdomen and found he needed the toilet all the time. In May he went to A&E because pain on his left side was keeping him up at night and a low-contrast CT scan showed he might have a stone in his bladder.
Chandler was given painkillers and told he might have kidney stones, which would pass naturally. But the scan also revealed nodules on his left lung, and a high-contrast CT scan revealed a tennis-ball-sized growth on his prostate gland, which was likely cancer.
It was growing and spreading fast, they said, so while awaiting his full pathology and “unable to wait” for his results due to the seriousness of his condition Chandler began chemotherapy in June, at Freeman Hospital Newcastle. A biopsy confirmed a week later that Chandler has a prostate sarcoma, which has metastasised, with secondary tumours in his lungs, liver, and bones. Medics have said the cancer is incurable.
Chandler, a customer-service advisor from Newcastle, said: “I just can’t describe how this feels. I knew something was wrong, but I really wasn’t expecting to hear that I had terminal cancer.
“I wish I’d been given a high-contrast CT scan the first time. They would have found it sooner and it would have spread less. I think because of how young I am, the focus was on confirming a UTI or kidney stones diagnosis -rather than an open investigation of my symptoms.”
Chandler Heatley with his mum Lisa(Image: Lisa Heatley/SWNS)
Mum Lisa, 51, thought Chandler was losing weight very fast in April. The combination of the Dicer-1 mutation, which Chandler has, and his age, is extremely rare, she said.
Medics found too many tumours in Chandler’s lungs to count, with one of them measuring 8cm. Chandler has just finished his sixth round of chemotherapy. Doctors are considering radiotherapy, a different chemotherapy, or surgery next, he said.
Chandler said: “It’s responded to the chemo better than they thought. I’m not dead yet and I’m just going to keep going, maybe they’ll find a cure.
“Terminal means conventional treatments aren’t expected to work. It doesn’t mean it’s not possible, medical trials are my best hope.
“I’d love to speak to any consultant who thinks they can help. I’d take part in any clinical trial that could get rid of this tumour. It would be something rather than nothing – even an outside chance.”
Chandler Heatley(Image: Lisa Heatley/SWNS)
Single-mum Lisa said the family haven’t been able to afford holidays and she’d love to be able to take Chandler, who is autistic, to Disneyland to make his own lightsaber.
Lisa, who is a full-time carer for Chandler’s brother Harvey, 21, said: “This has totally blindsided us. This is another young man being told he’s too young to have cancer.
“We need to be more open to the idea that cancer is a possible diagnosis for young people. We are too quick to dismiss the idea, so we’re not catching it fast enough.
“His world is just opening up and this is cutting him off before he’s even had the chance to explore. We need to empower young people to have the confidence to ask for investigations that they need. Chandler is such a wonderful person.”