She has just returned to work at London Gatwick Airport. However, a year and a half ago, she was preparing for her own funeral. Faye Louise, a 40-year-old British woman, is officially in remission from her appendix cancer after nearly two years of fighting the disease and a massive operation, the BBC reported this Monday, January 6.
She learned of her remission just before the holidays: “Knowing that there was no trace of illness was the best Christmas gift I could have received,” said the former model, now flight dispatcher at the second largest British airport.
A tumor that generated a gelatinous substance
To treat her, doctors undertook extensive surgery on her abdominal area, to eradicate all the cancer cells that were spreading throughout her body. In total, eight organs were removed from Faye Louise: the spleen, gallbladder, appendix, ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, navel and omentum. She also had part of her liver removed.
None of these organs are vital, which explains the possibility of their removal without danger to the patient’s life. During the operation, she also benefited from hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, that is to say the performance of chemotherapy on the affected areas.
The end of a long fight for Faye Louise. This woman from the south-east of England began experiencing pain in the spring of 2023, which led doctors to identify an ovarian cyst. A pathology which is usually benign and resolved in an operation, despite the violent pain it causes.
-But in the case of the young woman, the medical profession finds itself confronted with a much more important problem. Faye Louise is diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei. This type of tumor, very rare, is characterized by the accumulation in the abdomen of a gelatinous substance. When this tumor ruptures, the substance spreads and the cancer cells spread to other organs. The prognosis is not encouraging, and leads the thirty-year-old to anticipate the worst
But the doctors suggested that he try this operation. Faye consents and is operated on in November 2023, with a long convalescence that follows.
Annual exams just before Christmas
For now, the results of medical examinations one year after the operation officially place her in remission. She will have to undergo an annual check-up every November to avoid any risk of relapse, for the next 20 years. “Waiting for the results will unfortunately make every Christmas a decisive moment for me. But we must continue to move forward and never give up,” she urged the BBC.
After returning to her profession, she now continues to campaign for better cancer screening and better knowledge of her pathology, which affects one in a million people each year.
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