‘My wife’s only symptom was bladder control issues at a CrossFit class before she died of a rare ovarian cancer at 46’

A Gloucestershire man whose wife died of a rare cancer aged 46 has said he is completing a series of challenges to raise money for the “amazing” hospice which cared for her towards the end of her life.

Matt Miles, 46, a police officer living in Cheltenham, said the only symptom his wife, Katy Miles, had before her low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (LGSOC) diagnosis – which the LGSOC Initiative says accounts for only 2% to 5% of ovarian cancers – 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.

Now, Matt is honouring his wife, who was also a police officer, by using her police collar number – 1481 – 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.

Matt told PA Real Life: “It was dramatically unfair.

“To have this disease is one thing, but to have a rare disease – for someone of her age and fitness level – there was no rhyme or reason for it.

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate. If it gets you, it gets you.”

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.

Matt said: “I’m quite shy and introverted. She was very extroverted, so she was very good at filling the gaps.

“She had a very infectious laugh and a huge, beaming smile. You’d never hear a bad word said about her.”

Matt said Katy was always very fit and healthy, and she took “pride in her appearance”, so she “threw herself full throttle” into CrossFit.

It was during one particular class in 2016 that Katy was skipping and she felt that she needed to use the toilet.

Off the back of this incident, Katy saw her GP who referred her for a scan that showed up with an abnormality.

Doctors initially thought Katy had an ovarian cyst, and Matt said he remembers his wife being reassured at the time that “it’s not cancerous, don’t worry”.

The lump was biopsied, and Katy was called into a medical Centre in Cheltenham for the results on December 16 2016.

Matt said a doctor told them: “I can’t tell you the result because I’m not an oncologist, but you need to be aware that I expect this is going to be bad news.”

Matt described what happened immediately after the cancer diagnosis, adding: “I 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’d just been told that she had cancer.”

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 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 “lesions found on the liver, kidney, bladder and stomach lining”.

Matt added: “The doctor referred to it as finding grains of sand and he was taking each one out.”

Katy also had a stoma bag fitted and a full hysterectomy, which Matt described the latter as a “hugely impactful operation” that she “took in her stride”, before she had a cycle of “brutal” chemotherapy to try to “eradicate any cancer cells that were left”.

By March, he said Katy was feeling better and started going back to the gym.

In May 2019, follow-up scans revealed two small tumours that doctors said were “not causing any problems”, but it became more about managing and prolonging Katy’s 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.

By May 2024, Katy’s 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.

“That was the most painful thing she had done,” Matt said. “That one really got to her, but she just took it all in her stride.”

This is when Matt said Sue Ryder became involved – when Katy was “exhausted”, she could go to the hospice for “respite”.

By the start of spring 2024, Katy’s quality of life declined to the point Matt remembered Katy telling him at the time: “I can’t do it any more. It’s too much.”

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 “peaceful way to end” her life.

“I can remember the doctor was crying and so was the nurse,” Matt said. “Everyone was in hysterics.

“She had these things taken out and she came back and she was beaming.”

Matt and Katy’s sister, Lucy, then took turns to spend Katy’s final three weeks with her in the hospice before she died on September 24 2024.

In the aftermath of Katy’s death, Matt said he wanted to do something for the “amazing” charity that had done so much for his wife.

From Katy’s birthday on August 9 2025, he embarked on a journey of completing a series of challenges connected to Katy’s police collar number – 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’s cold water plunge called the Big Dip challenge and did Spain’s Camino de Santiago.

He already achieved his initial fundraising goal of £10,481, so he has since increased it to £14,810.

Matt is ending his fundraising drive with the London Marathon on April 26, which he believes will be a “special day”.

Matt said: “I’ve got an embroidered patch of the 1481 that I’ll have on my Sue Ryder shirt and a little wooden cross that Katy had.

“When I have those moments where I don’t want to keep going, those will be the little things that will keep driving me.

“Katy will be at the forefront of my mind. She is the driving force behind it all.”

To donate to Matt’s fundraiser for Sue Ryder, visit his JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-miles-1.