A young woman from Manchester who was told she only had a short time to live is now cancer free after a UK-first transplant.
Bianca Perea, a 32-year-old trainee lawyer who lives in Wigan, was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer – which is the most advanced kind – back in November 2021 when she was just 29, after only feeling a bit constipated and bloated, but otherwise having no other major symptoms.
After she was referred to her local hospital to have emergency bloods and a stool sample taken, followed by a colonoscopy and a biopsy, these investigations sadly revealed that she had bowel cancer, which had spread to all eight segments of her liver.
According to Cancer Research, only one in 10 people with advanced bowel cancer will survive for five years or more after their diagnosis.
32-year-old Bianca Perea is the first person in the UK to have a liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer.
The transplant, along with her previous treatment – targeted therapy, chemotherapy and bowel surgery – means she is now cancer free.
But after becoming a patient at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist cancer centre in Manchester, Bianca is now miraculously cancer free thanks to becoming the first person in the UK to have a liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer, along with other previous treatments included targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery.
Bianca was referred to The Christie’s local treatment centre in Wigan in early December 2021 where she had 37 rounds of a targeted drug called panitumumab, and chemotherapy over two and a half years.
According to The Christie, she had an “excellent response” to the treatment, with the tumour shrinking enough so that she could have an operation to remove the part of the bowel where it was.
A Manchester woman is now cancer free after a groundbreaking UK-first transplant / Credit: The Christie NHS
However scans showed she still had tumours in her liver which couldn’t be operated on, and so she was then referred to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as she was found to be a suitable candidate for a transplant.
Before being added to the transplant list, Bianca had to be doing well on treatment for two years, and she hit this milestone in December 2023.
She was subsequently added to the list in February 2024, and had her operation this past summer.
Bianca Perea, one of our patients, is the first person in the UK to have a liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer. She's now cancer free.
Despite all the odds, the surgery was successful, meaning she is now cancer free and the teams at Leeds and The Christie are “hopeful” that the cancer won’t return too.
“Within four weeks of going under the knife, I was able to drive and walk the family dogs, it was really quite incredible,” Bianca said.
“To go from being told I’d only have a short time to live to now being cancer free is the greatest gift. I’ve been given a second chance at life and I’m going to grab it with both hands. I am so grateful to the family who agreed to donate their loved one’s liver.”
Featured Image – The Christie NHS
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‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
“It speaks of nature, of craftsmanship, and of a couple who chose each other over status and what others thought of them.”
The sculpture has now gone on display at Dunham Massey from Thursday 26 June.
Featured Image – James Dobson (via Supplied)
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Lewis Capaldi announces MASSIVE comeback gig in Manchester this year
Thomas Melia
Everyone’s favourite Scottish ballad-maker, Lewis Capaldi, is heading out on tour across the UK, including a massive Manchester date.
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi is ready to tug at our heartstrings again right in front of our eyes as he announces a new UK arena tour.
This huge announcement comes right after his surprise set at the UK’s biggest music event of the year, Glastonbury, where he made a heroic return to the Pyramid Stage just two years after being forced to pull out.
Capaldi is known for writing some of the most notable and emotive hits of the late 2010s and early 2020s, including a long list of anthems such as ‘Someone You Loved’, ‘Bruises’ and ‘Before You Go’.
His monster of a hit ‘Someone You Loved’ has surpassed 3.9 billion views and is the UK’s most-streamed song of all time, so it is safe to say that his presence has been well and truly missed.
To many fans’ delight, the singer has stepped back into the spotlight and is ready to sing his heart out live at a variety of arenas across the UK, including Co-op Live right here in Manchester.
Now, in a post on his official Instagram account announcing this upcoming UK and Ireland arena tour, it’s good to see the Scottish powerhouse hasn’t lost his wit and charm as he jokes, “About time I got back to work.”
These shows are set to be in high demand as the singer has also revealed these upcoming dates, “Will be my only shows in the UK, Ireland or Europe this year! Would love to see ya there.”
On the back of his glorious Glasto return, Capaldi has dropped a huge heart-wrencher titled ‘Survive’ which offers more insight into the struggles and challenges the singer has been facing.
There is no confirmation of whether this new single marks the launch of a bigger project or not, but we can’t wait to scream his hits at the top of our lungs, regardless of when he pays Manchester a visit later this year.
Emily Sergeant -
7th January 2025 
