{"id":543081,"date":"2026-04-21T16:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543081\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:00:14","slug":"woman-had-just-one-symptom-before-death-aged-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543081\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman had ‘just one symptom’ before death aged 46"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her husband said it was ‘dramatically unfair’\"Katy<\/p>\n

Katy and Matt met in 2009 at work(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

A man whose wife died of a rare cancer aged 46 has said he is completing a series of challenges to raise money for the \u201camazing\u201d hospice which cared for her towards the end of her life.<\/p>\n

Matt Miles, 46, a police officer living in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, said the only symptom his wife, Katy Miles, had before her low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (LGSOC) diagnosis \u2013 which the LGSOC Initiative says accounts for only 2% to 5% of ovarian cancers \u2013 was bladder control issues during a CrossFit class in 2016, when she was 37. Katy underwent treatment and was initially given the all-clear, but by 2024 she found out her cancer had spread and she went into end-of-life care provided by the charity Sue Ryder.<\/p>\n

Now, Matt is honouring his wife, who was also a police officer, by using her police collar number \u2013 1481 \u2013 to complete challenges such as a 1,481-mile row and 1,481 burpees, as well as hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He will end the year-long fundraising drive by running the London Marathon this Sunday, April 26.<\/p>\n

Matt told PA Real Life: \u201cIt was dramatically unfair. To have this disease is one thing, but to have a rare disease \u2013 for someone of her age and fitness level \u2013 there was no rhyme or reason for it. Cancer doesn\u2019t discriminate. If it gets you, it gets you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt and Katy first met in 2009 at work and started a relationship soon after, bonding over their common interest in sport, specifically rugby and skiing. It was during a ski trip together in France in February 2012 that Matt proposed to Katy, surprising her by skiing up to her in a tuxedo. The pair married on May 10, 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Katy<\/p>\n

Katy was always very fit and healthy(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Matt said: \u201cI\u2019m quite shy and introverted. She was very extroverted, so she was very good at filling the gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a very infectious laugh and a huge, beaming smile. You\u2019d never hear a bad word said about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt said Katy was always very fit and healthy and she took \u201cpride in her appearance\u201d, so she \u201cthrew herself full throttle\u201d into CrossFit. It was during one particular class in 2016 that Katy was skipping and she felt that she needed to use the toilet.<\/p>\n

Off the back of this incident, Katy saw her GP, who referred her for a scan that showed an abnormality. Doctors initially thought Katy had an ovarian cyst, and Matt said he remembers his wife being reassured at the time that \u201cit\u2019s not cancerous, don\u2019t worry\u201d. The lump was biopsied and Katy was called into a medical Centre in Cheltenham for the results on December 16, 2016.<\/p>\n

Matt said a doctor told them: \u201cI can\u2019t tell you the result because I\u2019m not an oncologist, but you need to be aware that I expect this is going to be bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt described what happened immediately after the cancer diagnosis, adding: \u201cI remember Katy had a yellow jumper on and blue jeans and we walked out into the corridor and went through a set of double doors. As soon as we went through those, she literally grabbed hold of me and her legs just buckled. Then she just burst into tears because she\u2019d just been told that she had cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Katy<\/p>\n

Katy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 37(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Although initially unclear if it was ovarian or bowel-related, it was later confirmed that Katy had low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, which is a rare subtype that grows more slowly than more common ovarian cancers, but has a survival rate of up to 10 years, according to NHS<\/a> England. Katy underwent a bowel resection in November 2016 to remove trace cancer cells and then had a further operation in August 2017, which Matt said unexpectedly ended up lasting eight hours due to \u201clesions found on the liver, kidney, bladder and stomach lining\u201d.<\/p>\n

Matt added: \u201cThe doctor referred to it as finding grains of sand and he was taking each one out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katy also had a stoma bag fitted and a full hysterectomy, which Matt described as a \u201chugely impactful operation\u201d that she \u201ctook in her stride\u201d, before she had a cycle of \u201cbrutal\u201d chemotherapy to try to \u201ceradicate any cancer cells that were left\u201d. By March, he said Katy was feeling better and started going back to the gym.<\/p>\n

In May 2019, follow-up scans revealed two small tumours that doctors said were \u201cnot causing any problems\u201d, but it became more about managing and prolonging Katy\u2019s quality of life rather than curing her cancer. Over the next few years, and as cancer treatments developed, Katy was able to access different drugs over time, but eventually these stopped being effective and her options became more limited.<\/p>\n

By May 2024, Katy\u2019s cancer had spread to her bones and skin and she was devastated to receive an initial prognosis of around a year. She was also experiencing problems with her kidneys, so she had to have a nephrostomy, which is where a catheter is inserted through the skin of the back into the kidney to drain urine directly into an external collecting bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the most painful thing she had done,\u201d Matt said. \u201cThat one really got to her, but she just took it all in her stride.\u201d This is when Matt said Sue Ryder became involved \u2013 when Katy was \u201cexhausted\u201d, she could go to the hospice for \u201crespite\u201d.<\/p>\n

By the start of spring 2024, Katy\u2019s quality of life declined to the point Matt remembered Katy telling him at the time: \u201cI can\u2019t do it any more. It\u2019s too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt on the Camino de Santiago in Spain(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

She was having trouble with the nephrostomies in her back, so the staff said they could replace them, but Katy did not have the energy for it anymore. Matt said Katy asked for them to be taken out, which was explained to her as a \u201cpeaceful way to end\u201d her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember the doctor was crying and so was the nurse,\u201d Matt said. \u201cEveryone was in hysterics. She had these things taken out and she came back and she was beaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt and Katy\u2019s sister, Lucy, then took turns to spend Katy\u2019s final three weeks with her in the hospice before she died on September 24, 2024. In the aftermath of Katy\u2019s death, Matt said he wanted to do something for the \u201camazing\u201d charity that had done so much for his wife.<\/p>\n

From Katy\u2019s birthday on August 9, 2025, he embarked on a journey of completing a series of challenges connected to Katy\u2019s police collar number \u2013 1481. Among doing 1,481 burpees, a 14.81-mile row and a 14.81km run to and from the Sue Ryder hospice Katy stayed in, Matt undertook the charity\u2019s cold water plunge called the Big Dip challenge and did Spain\u2019s Camino de Santiago.<\/p>\n

He already achieved his initial fundraising goal of \u00a310,481, so he has since increased it to \u00a314,810. Matt is ending his fundraising drive with the London Marathon on April 26, which he believes will be a \u201cspecial day\u201d.<\/p>\n

Matt said: \u201cI\u2019ve got an embroidered patch of the 1481 that I\u2019ll have on my Sue Ryder shirt and a little wooden cross that Katy had. When I have those moments where I don\u2019t want to keep going, those will be the little things that will keep driving me.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaty will be at the forefront of my mind. She is the driving force behind it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to Matt\u2019s fundraiser for Sue Ryder, visit his JustGiving page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Her husband said it was ‘dramatically unfair’ Katy and Matt met in 2009 at work(Image: PA Real Life)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[847,59,102,104,56,54,55,13963],"class_list":{"0":"post-543081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-womens-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}