Kent couple, married 44 years, both diagnosed with kidney cancer
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- David and Jill Kenward were both diagnosed with tumours on their left kidneys and had robotic surgery performed by the same surgeon to remove them, according to the couple from Greatstone near New Romney, Kent.
- Jill Kenward, 63, was diagnosed first after an X-ray as part of her breast cancer treatment, with a 1cm tumour removed at East Kent University Hospitals; David Kenward, 65, was diagnosed two years later when a scan during his prostate cancer treatment found a 6cm tumour on his kidney.
- Dr Thomas Milan, the surgeon who operated on both Kenwards, said he has performed surgery on more than 1,000 kidney disease patients and this is the first time he has encountered a married couple both undergoing the same operation.
- The Kenwards said neither had any kidney cancer symptoms and described themselves as 'stunned' by the coincidence, adding that the experience made them treat the diagnosis matter-of-factly: 'we don't see it as a big deal really, we just get on with it.'
- Dr Milan noted that kidney cancers remain 'less common' but said clinicians are seeing an 'increase in cases,' a trend that made the couple's matching diagnoses stand out as 'extremely rare.'
Why it matters: With a surgeon of 1,000+ kidney operations calling this a first, the story highlights how incidental imaging during treatment for unrelated cancers can catch silent kidney tumours — both Kenwards were asymptomatic and owe their diagnoses to scans ordered for breast and prostate cancer respectively, underscoring the value of routine imaging in catching early-stage renal disease.
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