Georgie Copeman, 50, found a lump only because she had to sit awkwardly on the sofa when her Dalmatian took up the rest of the seat. She died six months after being told aggressive cancer had spread through her body.
Georgie died on September 17, aged 50, after being told she only had months to live. In her last few weeks, the former NHS worker was the driving force behind a record-breaking Sarcoma UK fundraising walk that attracted 500 people.
A Lump Discovered by Chance
Her wife, Adel Murphy-Copeman, 45, says continuing that work will now form part of Georgie's legacy. “Georgie was just incredible,” she said. “She embraced life with courage, dignity, grace and humour. She had the most wonderful sense of humour and warm, joyful essence about her. She always appreciated the smallest of things.”
“She was the most selfless person I've ever known. She always wanted to help anyone she could. Her kindness, love, laughter and infectious loud laugh would brighten up any room. Everyone used to always say you would hear her laugh before you saw her, and this was so true.”
The couple had been together for six-and-a-half years and married on August 5 this year. Their wedding came after a difficult 18 months, which had begun when Georgie noticed something unusual. She had been fit and active and had previously competed in bodybuilding after losing around nine stone.
Although she had experienced heavier periods, fatigue and bloating, the couple thought the symptoms could be linked to perimenopause. It was only when the couple's Dalmatian, Benson, took up most of the sofa one day in April 2025 that Georgie squeezed into an unusual sitting position beside him and spotted a lump protruding from her stomach.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Adel could feel what appeared to be a tennis ball-sized mass. It was only noticeable when Georgie was sitting in that particular position and disappeared from view when she stood up.
After being told she wouldn't be able to get a GP appointment for four weeks, Georgie contacted NHS 111 and was seen at Maidstone Hospital the same day. Doctors suspected a uterine fibroid, and she was referred back to the GP for further investigation.
The couple later noticed through the NHS App that Georgie had been placed on a suspected cancer pathway. She underwent investigations including a hysteroscopy, ultrasound and MRI before attending an appointment where a Macmillan nurse was also present.
It was there that the couple received the news they had feared. Georgie had uterine leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer which develops in the smooth muscle of the uterus.
She underwent major surgery, including a full hysterectomy, in June 2025, with surgeons operating from her sternum to her pelvis to remove the tumour. Adel says the mass removed was around the size of an eight-month baby.
After surgery, Georgie was later transferred into the care of specialists at the Royal Marsden, a world-leading specialist cancer treatment and research hospital in Chelsea. She was placed under surveillance with scans every three months.
Return of the Cancer
A follow-up scan showed a 2cm nodule in her pelvis, which the couple were told could either be post-operative scar tissue or, if it were to grow, it would grow very quickly. They were told to come back in another three months for another scan.
Further scans initially brought reassuring results, but Georgie repeatedly raised concerns about flu-like symptoms, sweats and feeling fatigued. Around Christmas 2025, Georgie began noticing that her stomach was changing again.
The couple, from Upper Fant in Kent, started taking photographs to document the difference and became increasingly concerned by how quickly it appeared to be growing. By the end of February, Adel says Georgie could barely walk from their bedroom to the en-suite bathroom; it was debilitating for her.
After seeking medical help on several occasions, Georgie's next scan was brought forward. In March, they received devastating news.
The cancer had returned aggressively and had spread to three new areas, including her pelvis, her aorta and the peritoneum - the smooth, continuous membrane that lines the inside of your abdominal and pelvic cavity and wraps around your internal organs.
Final Months and Fundraising
Georgie was told she could have between 12 and 18 months to live and needed to start palliative chemotherapy as soon as possible to give her more time. But her health deteriorated rapidly.
Over the months that followed, Adel says her wife spent 52 days in and out of Maidstone A&E, hospital wards and the Royal Marsden as she battled infections and complications alongside her cancer treatment. Doctors initially tried two chemotherapy drugs before reducing her treatment to one. By the end of May, after only one and a half rounds, Georgie was told the chemotherapy was not working and that it was just making her sicker.
Her response was simple. “I want to live as well as I can for as long as I can,” she said.
Georgie returned home at the beginning of June, by which point she was almost completely bedbound and required a permanent drain for her ascites (the abnormal buildup of excess fluid) in her stomach. District nurses taught Adel how to deal with the drain as she looked after her wife full-time and also kept their business running.
The couple, who ran Health Hut Nutrition in Maidstone, had initially kept Georgie's diagnosis private. They had met after Georgie's NHS boss suggested the pair should connect following a documentary Adel had filmed, before properly getting to know each other through Adel's fitness classes.
Georgie, who had worked in communications for Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, eventually left the NHS in 2024 to work full-time alongside Adel at Health Hut Nutrition. It was not until March this year that the couple began telling others Georgie was ill.
And when they were told there was nothing more doctors could do, their focus increasingly turned towards helping other people understand sarcoma. “Georgie just wanted to help people,” Adel said. “She never once complained, was angry or was 'woe is me'. It was never in our control, so it became: how can we help others? We really wanted to raise awareness, not about Georgie, but about the illness.”
That determination was funnelled into Sarcoma UK's Rare But Real Walk at Mote Park earlier this month. Adel initially hoped they might persuade 100 people to attend, which they were told was the largest number of participants the charity had managed to get for its walks.
Then she set herself a much more ambitious target: 500. Almost 500 people ultimately turned out, making it the largest Rare But Real event Sarcoma UK has held. The couple raised more than £21,500 for the charity.
Georgie was too unwell to attend in person, but joined those taking part via WhatsApp from her bed at the Heart of Kent Hospice. Even from the hospice the day before the walk, she recorded a message encouraging people to support Sarcoma UK and its work.
For Adel, the hundreds of people who turned up represented something beyond the money raised. “Five hundred families now know what sarcoma is,” she said. “This is just the start of my promise to Georgie. I will continue what she started. Maidstone came together for us.”
Georgie spent 22 days at the Heart of Kent Hospice before her death. Having lost her own mother to cervical cancer when she was just 13, she had been clear about what she wanted at the end of her life.
Adel stayed alongside her at the hospice every night and was with her when she died on September 17. “It was a very special moment that we had,” she said.
The couple had always been open with one another about what was coming, even planning Georgie's funeral together. “A lot of people shy away from it, but it was important to us to do that,” Adel said.
Georgie's funeral will be held privately for her family and close friends in October, with donations to Sarcoma UK welcomed in her memory. She leaves behind Adel, her sister Julie, nieces Georgie and Caffy, and her dearest friend Lyn.
Mark Bhagwandin, communications manager at Sarcoma UK, said Georgie had left a lasting impression on those she met. “Georgie was one of those rare people who, in a short space of time, leaves a mark that lasts far longer than the time you actually spent with them.”
“Even while facing the most devastating news anyone could receive, she chose to spend her remaining time helping others, raising money, raising awareness and rallying an entire community behind Sarcoma UK.”
Adel says cancer took an enormous amount from the couple, but there were things it could never touch.
“Cancer had taken so much from us, but it hadn't taken our ability to love, to laugh, or to appreciate the smallest moments,” she said. “We embraced this journey together. Georgie never complained, she never got angry. She had the most incredible attitude and mindset towards it.
“Her strength to just keep going, to keep fighting over the last six months inspired me every single day. This journey taught us that life isn't measured by how many days we had. It's measured by what we did in the days we were given.”
Georgie's message towards the end of her life, Adel says, was equally clear: “Having a mission and helping people to understand that you can keep fighting, you can keep doing good things no matter what.”
Now Adel intends to make sure that mission continues. “They say some people leave footprints on this earth, but Georgie has done something more,” she said. “She has left a handprint on our hearts, and this will remain long after her footprints have gone.”
