Woman, 32, had womb removed after doctors told her she had tumour only to discover biopsy showed no cancer signs
A woman has revealed that she mistakenly had her womb removed after doctors wrongly told her she had a tumour.
Back in September 2024, Rhian Butlin, 32, made a trip to hospital to complain of abdominal pain that had become 'excruciating' over time.
She was taken in for a scan, with results coming back clear, and doctors drawing the pain down to PCOS, also known as polycystic ovary syndrome.
Just two months later, she made a trip back as the pain progressively got worse, while her stomach also swelled to the point where Butlin looked like she was in the latter stages of pregnancy.
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The mother-of-two was then taken into hospital, with a second scan showing that there was a 25cm tumour on one of her ovaries.
Doctors decided that this would have to be surgically removed, as Butlin, a dental nurse by day, underwent a hysterectomy in December. The procedure would fully remove her uterus (womb), meaning she would no longer have periods or be able to get pregnant.
In addition to this, Butlin's appendix and bowel lining were removed following signs of swelling, as biopsies were carried out on all of these organs during the operation.
The recovery journey wouldn't be easy for her, as she would go on to suffer from a buildup of fluid and contract sepsis, even being put into a medically induced coma.
As a result of all the health scares, her older sister, Lindsey Rice, started a GoFundMe for Butlin as she admitted that they were told she 'wouldn't make it through the night'.
Luckily, her sister powered through, and biopsy results showed that no cancer was found in any of the removed body parts, leading to doctors telling her that she had endometriosis.
As explained by the World Health Organization, endometriosis is a disease 'in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus', causing pain in the pelvis and making it harder to get pregnant.
Rice added: “She didn’t have cancer after all. Can you believe how happy we all were. We cried, jumped for joy. The nightmare was over.”
But this wasn't the end of it.
Unfortunately, shortly after going home, Butlin's symptoms came back, and her sister recalled what happened to the publication.
“They said, ‘We are so sorry, we have gone through your notes and you did actually have cancer. But it was in your appendix and it is one of the rarest forms of cancer’,” she explained.
Her appendix had been removed, but it was too late, as the disease spread to her pelvis and lymph nodes, with her cancer now being at stage four and considered incurable.
Butlin spoke to the Daily Mail, admitting that she was 'emotionally drained' and 'constantly scared'.
“It's just been a very scary journey, if I'm honest. Obviously, I've had a full hysterectomy when I did not need to,” she pointed out.
The mum pointed out that her ovaries had been removed when she didn't have ovarian cancer, and the same went for her bowel: "Then they did remove my appendix in December but it wasn't until months later that they found cancer there."
On 8 April, six months after first noticing the stomach pain, she began her first course of chemotherapy, as Rice criticised the doctors' handling of the situation, pointing out that they 'would not be in the position we are in now' if they realised the issue earlier on.
She damningly stated: “It feels like we have been massively let down.”
You can donate to the GoFundMe here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Joshua Nair