{"id":125685,"date":"2025-05-23T16:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T16:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/125685\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T16:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T16:17:12","slug":"healthy-33-year-old-hit-with-common-post-christmas-problem-it-was-the-first-sign-of-terminal-cancer-that-cost-her-13-organs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/125685\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy 33-year-old hit with common ‘post Christmas’ problem – it was the first sign of terminal cancer that cost her 13 organs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 39 year-old woman is striving to enjoy the time she has left, after being dealt a shock diagnosis of appendix cancer<\/a> that has left her body ‘riddled’ with tumours.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Hind, from Cumbria, was given the devastating news in 2019, aged 33, shortly after suffering just the symptoms of what she thought were food poisoning.<\/p>\n

What followed was years of painstaking surgeries to remove 13 of her organs, more than eight gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and medically-induced menopause<\/a> at the age of 35.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heartbreakingly, the latest round of treatment failed to keep the cancer at bay and doctors have told her the disease is terminal\u2014they don’t know how long she has left to live.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite this, she’s trying to have as ‘normal’ a life as possible.<\/p>\n

The fitness instructor said: ‘I turn 40 this year and I want to say yes to everything. I’ve been surfing, in a hot air balloon and dog sledding so far.<\/p>\n

‘My latest challenge is Chris Hoy’s Tour de 4 90km cycle to raise money for charity.’<\/p>\n

The ordeal began in December 2018, after a Christmas work meal that appeared to result in a bout of food poisoning.<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca \"Rebecca <\/p>\n

Rebecca Hind during her cancer journey in hospital (left) and before cancer, September 2015 at work in the Ogwen Valley, The Outward Bound Trust (right)<\/p>\n

\u00a0‘A few of us were unwell\u2014but whilst others recovered quickly, I remained ill eight weeks later,’ she said.<\/p>\n

Initially her GP prescribed several rounds of antibiotics, but when they didn’t work\u00a0she was referred to Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.<\/p>\n

Scans performed by doctors there found cancerous masses in her abdomen which it was later revealed\u00a0had spread widely to her other organs through a jelly-like cancerous liquid called mucin.<\/p>\n

She was diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), a two-in-a-million rare form of appendix cancer,\u00a0which took the life of Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn.<\/p>\n

The most common symptoms of PMP include abdominal pain, swelling, and changes in bowel habits, as well as loss of appetite and unexplained weight gain.’<\/p>\n

In Ms Hind’s case the cancer was found to be advanced\u2014it had fused to the surface of several abdominal organs, forming solid tumours.<\/p>\n

She said: ‘By the time they found it, I was pretty much riddled with it.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had two surgeries to remove thirteen organs and body parts that had become cancerous, followed by eight rounds of chemotherapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca \"Rebecca <\/p>\n

Rebecca Hind having chemotherapy to remove diseased organs in August 2019 (left) and post operation in December 2019 (left)<\/p>\n

\u00a0In April 2019, she had the first operation to remove her appendix, navel and part of the abdominal cavity.<\/p>\n

It was revealed the cancer was high-grade and a more aggressive form of PMP which present on several organs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November 2019, she travelled to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital for specialists to perform a procedure to try and remove all the abnormal tissue.<\/p>\n

The extreme and lengthy procedure, which is dubbed ‘the mother of all surgeries’, lasted 12 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The surgeons removed her gallbladder, spleen, large bowel, womb, uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, rectum and abdominal tissue known as the omentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A portion of her stomach and small bowel, as well as the surface layer of her liver and both sides of her diaphragm were also removed.<\/p>\n

The extraction of her reproductive organs kicked her into the early menopause, aged just 35.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It was an assault on the body,’ she said.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The former outdoor instructor Rebecca’s scars and weight loss after a surgery\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0‘I was in hospital recovering on and off for months after.’<\/p>\n

Ms Hind must take a cocktail of 50 to 60 tablets including\u00a0codeine, Imodium and hormone replacement therapy.<\/p>\n

Her diet is also restricted, and she is forced to take an electrolyte fluid solution with food supplements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Devastatingly, in the summer of 2020, she was told the surgery had failed to eradicate the cancer.<\/p>\n

While she participated\u00a0a clinical trial for a new medicine in 2022, she had to stop taking the drug when it made her too unwell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In September she will be taking part in Chris Hoy’s ‘Tour de 4’, a bike event aiming to challenge people’s perspectives of stage four cancer.<\/p>\n

So far, she has raised <\/a>over \u00a31000 so far for\u00a0Pseudomyxoma Survivor, a small non-profit organisation run by patients and caregivers to assist those affected by PMP.<\/p>\n

She said: ‘As a stage 4 patient with a penchant for biking I couldn’t turn this down and not being one for half measures I’m aiming to complete the full 90km route.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A pile of medication she has been required to take since her cancer diagnosis\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca \"Rebecca <\/p>\n

Rebecca with her first dose in the clinical trail in May 2022 (left) and\u00a0during clinical trail monitoring in June 2022 (right)<\/p>\n

‘This is going to be a particularly big challenge for me as last summer, a large tumour in my pelvis caused a bowel obstruction which landed me in hospital for six weeks to have another major operation not with the intension of curing me but ‘to get me out of trouble’ as I couldn’t eat or drink properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Once again, I’m starting to develop my fitness from scratch and I haven’t been on my bike properly for a year.’<\/p>\n

Alongside raising awareness and fundraising for a PMP charity she has been incredibly active surfing, cycling and dog sledding.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘The message I want to get across is when you have a stoma or an incurable diagnosis, things will be incredibly difficult.<\/p>\n

‘My daily life is a rollercoaster\u2014but with the right attitude, you can still achieve a lot.<\/p>\n

‘And more importantly, enjoy whatever time you have.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 39 year-old woman is striving to enjoy the time she has left, after being dealt a shock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2467,92,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-125685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-chris-hoy","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114558052109212763","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}