Student was given hours to live after shock cancer diagnosis: Doctors ... trends now
A student has told how she was given just hours to live following her shock cancer diagnosis.
Libby Dodes, 23, from Derby, initially put her abdominal pain and a swollen tummy down to her endometriosis.
But doctors eventually found a 23cm tumour lurking in her abdomen. Tests showed she had a rare and aggressive ovarian cancer.
At one point, Miss Dodes' parents were told she was 'going to die over the weekend'.
She has since undergone four rounds of chemo, as well as an ultra-radical debulking surgery — which involved removal of the mass, lymph nodes from the pelvic area, a hysterectomy, and the removal of part of her peritoneum and appendix.
Libby Dodes, 23, (pictured) a keen jockey and student from Derby, put her abdominal pain and a swollen tummy down to her endometriosis
Now Miss Dodes, an avid jockey, needs super-strength chemo to continue to treat her small cell ovarian cancer.
Recalling her diagnosis in November 2023, Miss Dodes said: 'When I found out it was cancer it was really hard. It doesn't feel real.'
It was only caught after she fell off her horse that October, with her getting scans to check for a suspected broken pelvis.
Miss Dodes added: 'I think my horse knew and she saved my life. It's not often I fall off her.
'You never think it's something that is going to happen to you.'
A CT scan revealed a 23cm tumour on her abdomen and she was diagnosed with the cancer in November 2023 following a biopsy
There are around 7,500 new ovarian cancer cases in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK.
It can cause pain in your tummy, bloating and a loss of appetite.
Small cell ovarian cancer is a rare type of ovarian cancer, which usually occurs in younger women.
It is often an aggressive cancer with poor long-term prognosis, according to the charity The Eve Appeal which funds research into gynaecological cancers.
It causes tumours which are solid, fleshy, and cream-coloured, the charity adds.
Miss Dodes believes her cancer diagnosis is similar to that of Kate Middleton, who announced her own battle last month.
The Princess of Wales, 42, underwent major abdominal surgery and later revealed she was undergoing 'preventative' chemotherapy after cancer was discovered.
Miss Dodes was transferred to Nottingham City Hospital where she was put on a chemotherapy in December 2023 to shrink the tumour. Doctors were then able to perform the eight-hour long operation in February 2024 to remove the cancer
Miss Dodes has struggled with bad periods since she was a teen and was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis following a laparoscopy in February 2023.
Endometriosis, considered an inflammatory condition, occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body.
She had a post operative infection after an op to remove her endometrial tissue.
But in August last year she started to get a pain in her stomach.
Miss Dodes' mother Vanessa, a finance manager, said: 'Libby thought she had endometriosis in her bladder.
'Doctors dismissed her symptoms.'
Miss Dodes now needs a high dose of chemotherapy to keep fighting the cancer, but her mother
