Rare Cancer Diagnosis Causes Woman To Have Nine Organs Removed During 13-Hour Surgery

Pam Pope is lucky to be alive. As a matter of fact, many have deemed her surgical success to be a miracle. According to the Daily Mail, Pope was initially diagnoses with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but it was later discovered that she was suffering from pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP).

The ailing condition, which is a rare form of cancer, forms in the appendix before quickly spreading to the abdominal areas of the body. As mucus leaks from the appendix, the disease rapidly spreads to other organs. In just a short period of time, Pope discovered that her chances of survival were quite bleak. The only option she had for survival would be to remove all of the cancerous organs and tissue in her body.

Pope reportedly had her appendix, large bowel, most of her small bowel, gall bladder, spleen, womb, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and cervix removed during a 13-hour “mother of all surgeries” at Hampshire Clinic in Basingstoke, England. The surgery was reportedly followed by a “chemo bath.” Needless to say, she was quite shocked when the team of doctors revealed how the surgery went.

“I just wasn’t expecting to be told so much of my body had gone,” she said. “The list of organs that had been removed was so long that I actually lost count. I just could not fathom how I could still be alive when so much of me was missing.”

She recently spoke with Mail Online about her new lease on life and how she plans to share her story with the world to inspire others.

“I cried because I could not believe I was still alive. I had thought I might lose one or two organs but not all that. I realized then why it was called the ‘mother of all surgeries’ — everything that I could live without had gone to give me the best chance of survival. It was a shock, but the surgeon was very supportive in offering to arrange counseling. This has been a fight, but I need to tell my story to make people aware of this very sneaky cancer. I was told this disease would likely kill me, but I’m still here thanks to the ‘mother of all surgeries,’ which has lifted a death sentence.”

[Image via Express.co.uk]