{"id":49701,"date":"2025-08-06T14:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/49701\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T14:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:46:13","slug":"cumbrian-cyclist-to-challenge-stage-four-cancer-perceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/49701\/","title":{"rendered":"Cumbrian cyclist to challenge ‘stage four cancer perceptions’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

Bex Hind said she tries to have a positive mindset despite how “devastating and brutal” her cancer is<\/p>\n

A woman living with stage four cancer is taking on a 90km (55.9 miles) cycling challenge to show that a diagnosis “does not always limit what is possible”.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Hind, 39, from Morland in Cumbria, was diagnosed with the rare cancer Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP)<\/a> in 2019 and has since had more than 10 abdominal organs removed.<\/p>\n

Rebecca – known as Bex – said she “refused to sit down and give up” so signed up to take part in Sir Chris Hoy’s Tour de 4 cycle event next month, starting at the velodrome in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

“People have often wanted to wrap me up in cotton wool, while others think with a stage four diagnosis you shouldn’t be pushing yourself,” Bex said.<\/p>\n

PMP affects up to 400 new patients in the UK a year, with as many as 40% seeing it return after surgery.<\/p>\n

Bex was diagnosed aged 34 after getting stomach upsets for about two months, when it was “by just chance the on-call consultant was a specialist surgeon who sent me off for more investigations”.<\/p>\n

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

PMP affects up to 400 new patients in the UK a year<\/p>\n

“I explored the idea of harvesting my eggs for the future but unfortunately my ovaries were affected.”<\/p>\n

Bex had eight rounds of chemotherapy but said the scans showed it had little effect so she decided to have “really radical surgery known as the mother of all surgeries”.<\/p>\n

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

Bex said she “refused to sit down and give up” after being diagnosed with a rare cancer<\/p>\n

Bex had her appendix, greater momentum, large bowel, spleen, gall bladder, ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, cervix, rectum, diaphragm and parts of her small bowel, stomach and liver removed.<\/p>\n

It became incurable with more tumours – one the size of a melon – having to be removed. <\/p>\n

“It’s devastating and brutal. Every day I struggle and I’m reliant on a lot of medication. <\/p>\n

“Some days I can’t get out of bed, while other days I feel grand – I can ride for many hours. <\/p>\n

“There are difficulties with everything but with the right positive mindset it’s possible.<\/p>\n

“I’ve come to terms with the emotional side of stuff.”<\/p>\n

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

Bex said she is reliant on a lot of daily medication<\/p>\n

“I could easily give up but I want to give myself the best possible chance and be in the best physical condition in order to be able to tackle whatever comes next.”<\/p>\n

Bex has launched a GoFundMe campaign for UK charity Pseudomyxoma Survivor<\/a> which support cancer patients, care givers and families.<\/p>\n

Bex said the fundraising was “critical to support research to better understand and treat rare conditions”.<\/p>\n

“Whilst it could be too late for me, I’m hugely motivated to help other patients diagnosed with this devastating disease.”<\/p>\n

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

Bex said her positive energy has helped her cope<\/p>\n

“I knew little about the reality of serious illness because I was fortunate enough that no-one close to me had been diagnosed with cancer,” Bex continued.<\/p>\n

“I assumed that cancer patients all looked frail and very poorly and were limited with what they could do. <\/p>\n

“While this sometimes is unfortunately true, for others it is less so.”<\/p>\n

\"BexBex Hind<\/p>\n

Bex said she loves wild swimming and does it to relax after medical appointments<\/p>\n

Bex said: “There’s still things you can do in your life that are fun… I go for a medical scan and then go for wild swim. <\/p>\n

“There’s plenty of good stuff there and that’s what I want to pass along.<\/p>\n

“Cycling brings me freedom to explore… it doesn’t need to be hard or fast or far, just getting out that’s important.”<\/p>\n

The Tour de 4 event, which takes place on 7 September, was created by Sir Chris Hoy who revealed he had stage four cancer<\/a> last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bex Hind Bex Hind said she tries to have a positive mindset despite how “devastating and brutal” her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-49701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}