A gifted vocalist who graced The Voice stage and earned praise from Paloma Faith has tragically passed away following a devastating misdiagnosis of his cancer.

Dean Boroczky, performing under the name Dean Franklin, was an accomplished artist whose talents took him across the globe – from street performances in Plymouth and London to professional gigs throughout Europe, reports Plymouth Live.

Towards the end of last year, the Plymouth-based father of one consulted his GP complaining of discomfort. He was allegedly diagnosed with heartburn, prescribed treatment and discharged.

However, it later transpired that he was suffering from Stage Four oesophageal cancer. His mother, Marie Boroczky, has now heartbreakingly revealed that the promising talent passed away on Saturday aged just 37, a mere eight weeks following his belated diagnosis.

Marie recalled: “He always had a passion for music. He won us holidays as a child, he’d performed at Music of the Night and we’d get to go along.”

“My daughter and I were visiting him in Worthing one day and there was an open mic stage. We pushed him into getting up and singing.

“When he used to sing he’d get really into it. He had his eyes closed and would be lost in the moment. When he opened his eyes, there was a huge crowd, the people who organised it were like, ‘wow’.

“From there, he got scouted to go on The Voice UK, that would have been about 2016. He got through, went through all the stages, and got two turns from Ricky Wilson and Paloma Faith.

“He was a huge fan of Paloma so went on her team. He got to the final eight. We were all so proud of him. It was an amazing experience, watching him and meeting all those people.

“Paloma had a bit of a soft spot for Dean. She kept in touch and even reached out after his diagnosis.”

Just weeks before his death, Dean, who has a 17 year old daughter, Mya, performed before hundreds of fans in London in a “highly emotional” open-air concert, delivering one final passionate demonstration of his devotion to singing.

Dean had maintained a healthy lifestyle until last year when pain began troubling him. Despite visiting his GP numerous times about the concern, Marie said he was consistently dismissed, with the doctor suggesting he was suffering from heartburn.

On December 9, the pain intensified so dramatically that he admitted himself to A&E, convinced he must be suffering from something more serious, such as gallstones.

Marie continued: “They sent him down for an ultrasound and he asked if it was gallstones and the ultrasound person said, ‘we need to get another doctor’ as they’d found masses in the liver.

“The doctor came and told him they couldn’t confirm at that stage what it was and he would need an endoscopy the following day.

“On December 10, he had the endoscopy, and from that they took lots of biopsies and told him there and then, which was an error on their part. They gave him the pieces of paper with graphic images of his tumours and it said malignant oesophageal cancer metastasised Stage Four.”

She revealed that Dean received the devastating diagnosis with no support apart from his sister Leanne, who accompanied him, although his mother made the journey to London that very day. He then endured an excruciating wait to consult an oncologist at St Bart’s Hospital on December 29.

Dean, Marie, and his relatives attempted to salvage what they could of Christmas, but throughout the festivities Dean was suffering increasingly severe pain.

Marie added: “His sister and I accompanied him for the oncologist’s appointment, and they confirmed that he had Stage Four cancer that had metastasised to his liver and primary lymph nodes, and that they would be starting chemo.

“There was a chance he could have immunotherapy and a professor was doing clinical trials, so we discussed all those things. He knew there was no cure, we were told he could have 12 months if the chemo was successful.

“He was due to start that chemo on January 22, however, he started getting more symptoms.

“He was constantly in pain and the hospital arranged for him to have more medication, morphine and things like that, and while I was with him then, I noticed that he’d developed jaundice and said I think we need to contact someone.

“He was told that the jaundice was progressing quite rapidly due to liver failure. The professor got him in earlier for urgent chemotherapy. That started on January 7.

“He went in, and because it had progressed quite a lot, they could only give him 50 per cent of that chemotherapy because of the potential damage to his liver.”

Tragically, despite the 12-month prognosis and emergency chemotherapy, Dean died on Saturday (February 7), merely eight weeks following his diagnosis.

Marie continued: “He took his diagnosis with courage and spirit and strength, and a real fight within him that he was going to beat this.

“When he was told he had 12 months if chemo was successful, he wanted to focus on that, but he wanted to get this message out – he had no symptoms prior. He kept getting diagnosed with heartburn.

“It’s such an underestimated disease, especially considering his age. He’d go to the doctor and they’d give him medicine for heartburn. He was getting pains in his stomach and they didn’t link it at all. It really wasn’t picked up.

“As the oncologist told us, because of his age, you’d usually present to the GP with difficulty swallowing. It’s very unrecognised in GPs to push forward for tests because of his age.

“He wanted to raise awareness, he felt that something wasn’t quite right, but he wasn’t listened to. The oncologist said that there was no genetic link to the cancer; the cancer was caused by acid reflux. It’s very unknown, until we travelled this path with Dean, we weren’t aware of it. It’s really opened our eyes.

“There’s very little awareness of how prominent it can be.

“The last few years he’d been going to the doctors with heartburn. If it had been picked up sooner, it could have gone differently. He could have been fast-tracked. It was just too late when he was diagnosed.

“As a family we will continue to try to raise awareness and I have been in contact with Heartburn Cancer UK.

“There was an error with the biopsies too, because it was the Christmas period. They were delayed, and the doctors kept saying they were chasing it. Later, they said an error had been made because it was Christmas, that’s why there was a delay. We didn’t feel like it was picked up on soon enough.”

Despite undergoing emergency chemotherapy and enduring relentless pain, Dean remained determined to take to the stage one final time, informing his followers that he would give an impromptu open-air performance at Piccadilly Circus in London.

Whilst Dean simply wanted to perform out of passion, he was met with an overwhelming response.

Marie recalled: “He came out of hospital on January 10 and on January 11 went to Piccadilly Circus because he was adamant he was going to do it even if he had to be wheeled down in a wheelchair.

“There were hundreds of people there, he left a legacy that has gone far beyond the UK – literally around the world.

“He’s managed to do so much before all this, people travelled from Switzerland and Spain to be at that open-air performance, to watch him busk – he didn’t expect so many people.

“I’d say there were 2-300 people watching. He managed to do five different songs. He did Tom Odell’s Heal, which meant quite a lot to him. He did Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, Amy Winehouse’s Back to black, James Blunt’s Goodbye My Lover, and he sang Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice for me. That was our song, from right in the early days when he started performing.

“It was highly emotional. The crowds were crying. He was surrounded by so much love.”

Dean’s funeral will take place in Plymouth once arrangements have been finalised, with a celebration of his life to be organised in London at a later date.

To contribute to Dean’s GoFundMe, a portion of which will be donated to Heartburn Cancer UK, please click here.