This time last year, my beautiful wife Rachel and I were at the British Musical Fireworks in Southport. She was there with her camera, snapping away — photographs, selfies, everything. Neither of us had any idea what was coming.
For over twenty years, Rachel faced cancer after cancer with more strength and dignity than anyone I’ve ever known. Her first two were both primary ovarian cancers, diagnosed in her 20s and early 30s. Even through it all, she never lost her empathy or her smile. She had this way of making everyone else feel better, even when she was the one who was suffering. She loved her job as a teaching assistant, loved children, and loved being outdoors — pottering in the garden, planting marigolds in memory of her dad, who died from prostate cancer a few years earlier.
I often feel as though I’m living in a parallel universe, constantly thinking what if.
If Rachel had been referred for genetic screening back in 2012, after a key sign of Cowden Syndrome was spotted — multiple liver hamartomas — her story might have been completely different. Despite that, and two rare ovarian cancers, along with a history of severe urticaria, skin lesions and asthma, nobody ever thought to suggest there might be a hereditary link.
At that point, she would have qualified for regular breast-cancer screening, and even if it hadn’t prevented the disease, her breast cancer could have been found much sooner, before it spread into her lymph nodes as it did.
In 2019, Rachel was diagnosed with grade 2 oestrogen-receptive, HER2-negative breast cancer. It led to more brutal operations, and she even chose to have a mastectomy of her remaining breast to avoid lifelong mammogram checks. Yet still, no one put in place proper surveillance for possible recurrence sites.
Five years later, even though she was being followed up for cancers linked to her likely Cowden Syndrome — thyroid, gynaecological, bowel and skin — a routine thyroid check found a suspicious lump in a lymph node near her thyroid. An earlier scan in 2024 had already caught the very top of her liver, but no one noticed the small shadow that turned out to be the start of returning disease. It was a recurrence of her breast cancer, now in her liver.
That news shattered me. She was under what we thought was careful, ongoing surveillance — but somehow, one of the most common places for breast-cancer recurrence wasn’t even being looked at.
Rachel died on 5 August 2025. There isn’t a word strong enough for what that day did to me. The house feels empty beyond description. I can’t look around without seeing the life we built — the things we bought together, the small details that meant something only to us. Her pottery bowls still sit on the shelves, the ones she made herself, each one holding a bit of her. It’s unbearable at times.
The only thing keeping me going now is this campaign. It’s the only thing that stops me falling into the black hole I was sinking towards. Putting my grief into something that might save other families is the only way I can honour Rachel and keep breathing.
I’ve started a campaign in her memory called Rachel’s Rule: Protecting Today, For Tomorrow.
It calls for annual hereditary-risk reviews for anyone who’s had multiple red-flag cancers or associated health issues. My hope is that others will be protected where Rachel wasn’t — and that no one else will have to go through what we did.
If Rachel’s story has touched you, please — from the bottom of my heart — take a moment to sign and share the petition.
Every single signature helps bring us closer to change in her name.
Even Rachel’s local MP is actively supporting the campaign, helping to raise awareness at government level — which gives me real hope that this can become a lasting legacy in her memory.
Why This Matters
So many people like Rachel fall through the cracks. Only those with an obvious hereditary pattern tend to be referred for genetic testing, leaving others — who could still be at serious risk — without the chance of early screening.
Research shows that:
- Many patients who should be referred for genetic testing are never offered it, even when their history strongly suggests risk.
- Earlier and broader surveillance saves lives. When people are monitored based on hereditary risk, cancers are caught far earlier — often at a point where treatment can cure, not just manage.
- Reviews of UK genetic services and studies such as the Early Detection of Genetic Risk (EDGE) trial have all shown that people with multiple or unusual cancers are often missed.
That’s what Rachel’s Rule is about — closing that gap, and making sure nobody slips through the system again.
Thank you for reading Rachel’s story.
She was my world — my wife, my best friend, my reason for everything — and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to turn her loss into something that helps others.