Rhian Butlin has womb removed only to find out she didn’t have ovarian cancer but another cancer, which was only discovered later and had by now metastized into stage 4. A single UK mom of two speaks of her trauma amid questions how did doctors get it so wrong?
A British woman has revealed undergoing an unnecessary hysterectomy after doctors mistakenly told her she had ovarian cancer.
The incident has led to the 32 year old mother of two, Rhian Butlin undergoing unnecessary trauma and setbacks in her treatment when it was revealed she actually had another kind of cancer, which has since metastized to stage 4.
Single mom goes from one health calamity to another
It all began in September 2024, when Butlin went to the doctor complaining about ‘excruciating’ abdominal pain. The woman’s scan came back clear and her symptoms were initially ‘dismissed’ as PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome, according to the dailymail.
Yet two months later, the 32 year old was rushed to the hospital when the pain persisted. Butlin’s stomach also started swelling so much that she appeared nine months pregnant. Once hospitalized, a second scan revealed that Butlin had a 10 inch tumor on one of her ovaries, which she was told by doctors needed to be surgically removed.
Butlin — who works as a dental nurse — underwent a full hysterectomy (the removal of a female’s uterus and womb) in December. She also had her appendix and the lining of her bowel removed after they showed signs of swelling. The mom of two had biopsies done on all three organs during the major procedure.
Surgery left Butlin suffering from a buildup of fluid as well as sepsis, necessitating her being put in a medically induced coma at one point. Miraculously Butlin survived her ordeal.
But there was something else she also had to survive now.
Despite surgery, Rhian Butlin symptoms re-appear
When Butlin’s biopsy results came back, no cancer was found in any of the body parts doctors had removed. Doctors believed she had endometriosis, a type of disease which can sometimes mimic cancer on scans.
Despite the news, Butlin’s symptoms re-appeared.
It was later revealed that Butlin did actually have cancer, except it was appendix cancer, which is one of the rarest forms of cancer.
Although Butlin’s appendix had been removed during surgery, the disease had already spread to her pelvis and lymph nodes. Doctors said her cancer was now stage 4 and ‘incurable.’
Told Butlin via the dailymail, ‘Obviously, I’ve had a full hysterectomy when I did not need to.’
‘I’ve had my ovaries removed when I did not have ovarian cancer and I’ve had the lining of my bowel removed when I did not have bowel cancer,’ she continued. ‘Then they did remove my appendix in December but it wasn’t until months later that they found cancer there.’
Incurable stage 4 cancer
Now, more than six months after first complaining of stomach pain, Butlin started her first three-month course of intensive chemotherapy on April 8.
Bultin’s older sister expressed her disappointment with how doctors have handled her care.
‘It’s not been the best experience,’ Lindsey Rice told the dailymail. ‘If they figured it out earlier on, then we would not be in the position we are in now. It feels like we have been massively let down.’
Rhian, who is a single mom, is now facing weeks of chemotherapy, with her sister since starting a GoFundMe page on her behalf, explaining that she ‘isn’t strong enough to do what she usually does’ with her children.
‘She’s everything to them. She brought them up from day one alone,’ the post states, with Lindsey asking for donations to ‘create a little pot’ for the family in the hope they will be able to use it ‘to make memories.’
Doctors have since apologized for the misdiagnosis.
