Retired nurse given a year to live is now cancer free after pioneering surgery at hospital where she once worked
Caroline Ainslie, a 60-year-old retired nurse from Southampton, has been declared cancer-free after undergoing pioneering surgery at University Hospital Southampton, the same hospital where she previously worked as head of nursing. She had been given a terminal, stage four ovarian cancer diagnosis in March 2026 and told she had around a year to live, but responded unexpectedly well to chemotherapy, making her eligible for a complex operation that surgeons had initially thought impossible.
The treatment, known as hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), involves surgically removing tumours before delivering heated chemotherapy directly into the body. During a 12-hour operation, surgeons removed all visible cancer, including a full hysterectomy and tumours from her abdomen, liver, diaphragm, lungs, lymph nodes and colon. UHS, which introduced HIPEC for ovarian cancer in 2022, recently completed its 50th such procedure, making it one of the most experienced centres for the treatment in the UK; ovarian cancer affects around 7,500 women annually in the UK and causes over 4,000 deaths a year.
In short
- Retired nurse given a year to live is now cancer-free
- Pioneering HIPEC surgery removed tumours after strong chemo response
- Treated at Southampton hospital where she once worked as a nurse
Explained simply
Ovarian cancer begins in or around the ovaries, the organs that produce eggs and hormones. It can be difficult to detect early, and stage four means the cancer has spread beyond its original site. Treatment may include chemotherapy to shrink tumours and surgery to remove them.
Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, or HIPEC, is used in some operations for cancer that has spread within the abdomen. Surgeons remove visible tumours, then circulate heated chemotherapy medicine in the abdomen before closing the operation. It is a complex treatment and is not suitable for every patient.
University Hospital Southampton introduced HIPEC for ovarian cancer in 2022 and has carried out 50 procedures. Ovarian cancer affects thousands of women in the UK each year, so the treatment and the experience of specialist centres matter to patients and clinicians weighing possible options.