Life-saving op for cancer sisters

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Two Hertfordshire women in their 20s are believed to be the first sisters in the UK to have their stomachs removed after being diagnosed with cancer.

Ruth Bendle, 20, thought to be the youngest person in the UK to have a gastrectomy, and her sister Lisa had tests every six months for the disease.

Their father, David, 49, had died from stomach cancer, as had his mother, sister and niece.

Ruth and Lisa underwent the operation at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

It's not a very nice thing for the girls, having their stomachs removed, but it's saved their lives Lynn Bendle

The sisters' mother, Lynn, who is caring for them at the family home in Hemel Hempstead, said: "There wasn't a choice, they would have died.

"They have up days and down days, but I think they both realise how lucky they are.

"It's not a very nice thing for the girls, having their stomachs removed, but it's saved their lives."

Regular tests

David Bendle's mother died of stomach cancer when she was 25 and his sister and her daughter when they were 43 and 18.

Damage to the stomach lining can lead to cancer

Ruth and Lisa, 23, took part in a Cancer Research project and were regularly tested for cancer. Their second test last July revealed they both had the disease.

Doctors said Ruth, who had a more advanced form of the cancer, might only have had a year to live if they had not caught it in time.

Now they can only eat a small amount of food in one go and have to have five or six meals a day to consume as many calories as possible.

Lisa, who is a trainee science teacher, and Ruth, a sociology undergraduate at Surrey University, hope to return to their studies in the New Year.