Dr. Rebecca "Becca" Brown, a 30-year-old oncology trainee devoted to caring for cancer patients, tragically became a patient of the very disease she fought after noticing a symptom most would overlook.
Born in Britain and raised in the United States for her first eight years before returning to the UK, Becca was in her second year of training at a hospital in Poole, England. In June 2023, after a night out, she realized she was unable to urinate. She rushed to her own hospital's emergency room, but it was only after her abdomen became distended days later that she was sent for further tests.
A scan revealed a large ovarian cyst, which was surgically removed. However, her symptoms persisted. While initial cancer markers appeared normal and her family hoped for the best, Becca sensed something was still wrong. A subsequent surgery led to a devastating diagnosis delivered by her own colleagues: she had a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer that had already spread to her breasts, lungs, and lymph nodes.
Becca was then admitted to the same oncology unit where she had once worked. "She was the patient," her sister Sophie shared in a tribute for Stand Up To Cancer. "They were the carers. She'd been on the other side of that."
Through it all, Becca maintained her spirit. Her parents recalled her lifelong nickname, "Smiler," noting that people never saw her without one. After an initial round of chemotherapy, hope was brief. The cancer was found in her bowel, leaving no further treatment options.
Surrounded by her family, Becca passed away just seven months after her first symptom. Her mother, Monica, shared a poignant farewell: "When she came into this world, I held her, and as she left this world, I held her too."
