Hairdresser, 42, with suspected endometriosis was found to have ruptured tumour that required NINE organs be removed in the ‘mother of all surgeries’
Claire Gerring, a 42-year-old hairdresser from Wantage, Oxfordshire, was referred to hospital in 2022 with suspected endometriosis, but investigations eventually revealed she had a rare, ruptured cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP), which typically starts in the appendix. The case highlights how symptoms initially attributed to a common gynaecological condition can mask a far more serious and unusual diagnosis, underlining the importance of persistent investigation when test results don't fit the expected picture.
A positive stool blood test led to a colonoscopy that found her appendix was inverted, and a CT scan later confirmed malignant tissue; a biopsy in May 2025 diagnosed stage four PMP, which had ruptured and spread nodules elsewhere in her body. In July 2025 she underwent a ten-hour operation at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, one of only two UK centres specialising in PMP, to remove nine organs including her appendix, gallbladder, spleen, uterus, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes, alongside partial removal of her liver, bladder and bowel. After four and a half weeks in hospital she was discharged with no evidence of disease, though she now faces 20 years of monitoring and ongoing bowel problems; she has since raised over £16,000 for the charity Pseudomyxoma Survivor, which is funding a blood test to detect the cancer earlier.
- Suspected endometriosis turned out to be rare appendix cancer, PMP
- Ten-hour surgery removed nine organs at specialist Basingstoke hospital
- Now cancer-free but faces 20 years of monitoring
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Claire Gerring, a 42-year-old hairdresser from Wantage in Oxfordshire, was referred for tests in 2022 after her symptoms were initially put down to endometriosis, a common condition affecting the womb lining. Further investigations eventually found she had a rare cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, or PMP, which usually begins in the appendix and can produce a jelly-like substance that spreads through the abdomen. It is unusual and easily missed, which is why her diagnosis took some time to reach.
By the time doctors confirmed the disease in 2025, it had reached an advanced stage and ruptured, meaning it had already begun spreading elsewhere in her body. She was treated at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, one of just two centres in the UK with specialist expertise in this particular cancer, reflecting how rare and complex PMP cases are usually concentrated in a small number of specialist units.
The case is being reported because of the scale of the surgery needed to treat her and the wider recovery and monitoring she now faces, as well as her fundraising for the charity Pseudomyxoma Survivor, which supports research into earlier detection of the disease.