Liver transplant cures woman’s bowel cancer in UK first
(Picture: Phil Tragen/The Christie NHS Foundation Trust/PA Wire)
A young woman is cancer-free after undergoing the UK’s first ever liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer.
Bianca Perea, a 32-year-old trainee lawyer from Manchester, was told by doctors her stage four bowel cancer was terminal before the miracle operation last summer cured her of the deadly disease.
Cancer specialists placed their hopes in the groundbreaking surgery after targeted drug therapy, chemotherapy and surgery all removed the cancer from elsewhere in Bianca’s body, but not in her liver.
The treatment, once considered unfeasible, became possible when a donor was found in February 2024 and means she is now cancer-free.
Bianca said: ‘To go from being told I’d only have a short time to live to now being cancer-free is the greatest gift.
‘I’ve been given a second chance at life and I’m going to grab it with both hands. I am so grateful to the family who agreed to donate their loved one’s liver.’
‘I do believe this is a cure. They’re always hesitant to say that, obviously, but I am cancer-free right now.’
Bianca was only 29 when she received the shocking news she had stage four bowel cancer – the most advanced kind.
She went to the GP complaining of constipation and bloating, but her symptoms were not severe enough for her to suspect cancer.
(Picture: Phil Tragen/The Christie NHS Foundation Trust/PA Wire)
In fact, the disease had spread to all eight segments of her liver.
The first signs of trouble came during a doctor-ordered colonoscopy, when the medic was unable to pass the thin tube through her bowel to examine it in full detail.
Bianca said: ‘I remember the doctor at the time – there was a blockage in my bowel and he couldn’t get the camera past.
‘He said to me, “I’ve taken some biopsies. If you were 60 and above, I would say that is most definitely cancer, but because you’re so young, I just can’t see how that could be that in you”.
‘He said, “In the meantime, I don’t want to delay getting you a CT scan on the rest of your bowel and also your thorax and abdomen to see if it has it spread.”
‘At that point, I felt a real, like, “Wow, is this something serious?”‘
She was then told the devastating news she had an advanced form of the cancer, and doctors were only looking to prolong her life, rather than find a cure.
Bianca said: ‘I don’t want to sound kind of ignorant or arrogant or anything like that but I just didn’t feel in my gut that that was going to be it.’
She successfully then underwent 37 rounds of targeted drug treatment and chemotherapy for over two and a half years at Christie NHS Foundation Trust’s local treatment centre in Wigan.
The positive signs meant she could have an operation in May 2023 to remove the bowel tumour, meaning the only remaining cancer tumours were in her liver.
When the Bianca was first diagnosed, her mother’s suggestion of a liver transplant was shot down by doctors, but two years later specialists began to look at the possibility it could cure Bianca of cancer forever.
While stem cell or bone marrow transplants are already used as treatments for some types of cancer including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, a liver transplant for beating cancer had never been employed in the UK before.
She was added to the transplant list in February 2024 and was lucky enough to find a donor, allowing her to have the operation last summer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The results of the pioneering surgery have transformed Bianca’s fitness and led to a swift recovery.
The 32-year-old said: ‘Within four weeks of going under the knife, I was able to drive and walk the family dogs, it was really quite incredible.’
She is already planning a holiday this year and is working on improving her fitness.
Her doctors are hopeful that the cancer will not return and believe that this maiden operation will lay the way for more innovative cancer treatments.
Dr Kalena Marti, who is Bianca’s oncologist at the Christie, said: ‘Advanced bowel cancer is complex and there are lots of different types of the disease, so what works for one person might not work for another. As a result, it’s important that we continue to develop new treatments.
‘Thanks to the generosity of organ donors and their loved ones, we can now access liver transplants for some patients, which is fantastic.’
A leading consultant at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, where Bianca had the life-changing surgery, stressed the importance of organ donation for Bianca’s treatment and cancer care across the country.
‘We are, of course, indebted to the family of the organ donor – as is made clear with Bianca’s case, organ donation saves lives,’ said Dr Ian Rowe, honorary consultant hepatologist at Leads Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
‘It is important that people register their decision to donate on the NHS organ donor register and make their decision known to their loved ones. Families will always be consulted on any decisions around organ donation.’
There are around 44,000 new cases of bowel cancer each year in the UK, with 43% of new cases coming from people ages 75 and over.
53% of people survive bowel cancer in England for ten years or more.
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