Dr. Rebecca Jane Brown, 30, dedicated her life helping cancer patients, but sadly, she was diagnosed of the same diseases after she spotted an unusual symptom others would likely dismiss.
Becca, who was born in Britain and spent the first eight years of her childhood in the States before returning to the UK, worked at the oncology department and was getting into the second year of her training when she spotted an unusual symptom. Following a night out in June 2023, Becca realized she couldn’t go to the toilet.
Becca rushed herself to the emergency room at the hospital where she worked in Poole, a seaside town in southern England, but it wasn’t until a couple of days later when she’d developed a related symptom that she was sent for further tests.
“She noticed that her tummy was distended for a few days afterwards,” her sister Sophie shared in a video for the charity Stand Up To Cancer.
After noticing swelling in Becca’s abdomen, her hospital consultant ordered a scan that revealed a large ovarian cyst measuring about 5.5 inches. Although it was removed, the 30-year-old’s symptoms persisted.
Her mother, Monica, said the early signs didn’t seem “ominous,” with most of Becca’s cancer markers coming back normal, while her dad Martin said, “I think she knew things still weren’t right.”
Becca undergone another surgery in hopes of finding the cause of her condition. However,while her family was convinced things would get back to normal again, the doctors, who were also Becca’s colleagues, delivered devastating news, Becca had a rare, aggressive form of ovarian cancer that had already spread to her breasts, lungs, and lymph nodes.
She was later moved to the same oncology unit she had previously been part of.
Her sister said: “The ward she was on, being looked after, she’d worked with them. They were her colleagues. She was the patient.
“They were the carers, she’s been on the other side of that.”
Despite knowing how serious her condition was, Becca kept smiling. “Our nickname for Becca, as a small baby, was Smiler,” her mom said, as her dad added: “People I don’t think ever saw Becca not smiling.”
Hope followed her first chemo, but faded when she mentioned her stomach was “a bit swollen,” and the cancer was found in her bowel. With no options left, Becca spent her final days surrounded by family and died seven months after her first symptom. Her mom said: “She lay into my shoulder. When she came into this world, I held her, and as she left this world, I held her too.”
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