Sisters Have Stomachs Removed To Beat Cancer

(Sky News) - Two sisters have had their stomachs removed in a bid to avoid a cancer which has ravaged their family.

Meeta Singh, 25, and her sister Ravindra, 29, both suffer a rare hereditary condition which gives them an 80 percent chance of developing gastric cancer.  Pre-emptive tests in 2008 showed Ravindra already had an early stage of the disease.

They have seen the disease claim the lives of their grandmother, father, two uncles and a 20-year-old cousin.

The mutant E-cadherin gene affects just 100 families in the world but is described by doctors as being responsible for a "particularly nasty" cancer.

The sisters are expected to lose 20% of their body weight.

However, doctors say it is possible to live an entirely normal life without a stomach because it is used primarily for storage rather than digestion.

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