Mum-of-two looked 'heavily pregnant' before being given devastating Christmas Eve diagnosis

A mum-of-three appeared to be heavily pregnant before finding out she had a life-threatening illness on Christmas Eve in 2021. This year, she says she's grateful to be here cancer-free.

Debbie Stringer, from Hyde, started to feel unwell in autumn 2021 and assumed her swollen stomach was simply bloating. However, Debbie’s stomach continued to get bigger.

As weeks passed and she was sent for more and more tests, Debbie both looked and felt as if she was pregnant at full term, she says. Then, on Christmas Eve she received the devastating news that a huge mass had been found on her appendix - and it was cancerous.

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When she first fell ill, Debbie saw her GP and was sent for blood tests. The CA-125 level, which can be a marker for ovarian cancer was higher than normal. Debbie was therefore referred to hospital for a series of tests.

When the results came back and Debbie was told on Christmas Eve that she had a cancerous tumour, she did not even tell her children the news. Instead, Debbie bravely did her best to continue Christmas activities despite struggling to breathe and eat.

At the start of 2022, Debbie was called into The Christie cancer hospital for surgery to remove the large tumour and her appendix. Despite being bloated, Debbie had lost so much weight over Christmas that she ate lots of chocolate to retain her energy levels.

By the time she told her daughter Anais that she had cancer, they both referred to the “chocolate ball” inside her.

Then, in July 2022, Debbie had major surgery to have her gall bladder,