{"id":29998,"date":"2026-09-26T12:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=29998"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:36:59","slug":"tributes-paid-to-maidstone-bodybuilder-and-former-nhs-worker-georgie-copeman-who-raised-thousands-for-sarcoma-uk-after-being-diagnosed-with-rare-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=29998","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to Maidstone bodybuilder and former NHS worker Georgie Copeman who raised thousands for Sarcoma UK after being diagnosed with rare cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A heartbroken wife has paid tribute to her \u201cincredible\u201d partner who dedicated the final months of her life to raising awareness of the rare cancer that claimed her life.<\/p>\n
Georgie Copeman, from Upper Fant, Maidstone, died on September 17, aged 50, just six months after being told her cancer had returned aggressively and spread to several parts of her body.<\/p>\nGeorgie Copeman at her and Adel’s wedding in August 2026. Picture: Conor for Helaina Storey helainastorey.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Despite being given just months to live, the former NHS worker continued to focus on helping others, becoming a driving force behind a record-breaking Sarcoma UK fundraising walk which attracted 500 people.<\/p>\n
Her wife, Adel Murphy-Copeman, 45, says continuing that work will now form part of Georgie\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorgie was just incredible,\u201d she said. \u201cShe embraced life with courage, dignity, grace and humour.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had the most wonderful sense of humour and warm, joyful essence about her. She always appreciated the smallest of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the most selfless person I\u2019ve ever known. She always wanted to help anyone she could.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The couple had been together for six-and-a-half years and married at Salmestone Grange, near Margate, on August 5 this year.<\/p>\n
The intimate celebration, attended only by Georgie, Adel and four of their closest friends, took place over four days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was magical,\u201d Adel said.<\/p>\n
But their wedding came after an incredibly difficult 18 months, which had begun when Georgie noticed something unusual about her stomach.<\/p>\nGeorgie Copeman and Adel at their wedding in August 2026. Picture: Conor for Helaina Storey helainastorey.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
She had been fit and active and had previously competed in bodybuilding after losing around nine stone.<\/p>\n
Although she had experienced heavier periods, fatigue and bloating, the couple thought the symptoms could be linked to perimenopause.<\/p>\n
It was only when the couple\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Adel could also feel what appeared to be a tennis ball-sized mass.<\/p>\n
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It was only noticeable when Georgie was sitting in that particular position and disappeared from view when she stood up.<\/p>\n
After being told she wouldn\u2019t be able to get a GP appointment for four weeks, Georgie contacted NHS 111 and was seen at Maidstone Hospital that same day.<\/p>\n
Doctors initially suspected a uterine fibroid, and she was referred back to the GP for further investigation.<\/p>\n
The couple later noticed through the NHS App that Georgie had been placed on a suspected cancer pathway.<\/p>\n
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She underwent investigations including a hysteroscopy, ultrasound and MRI before attending an appointment where a Macmillan nurse was also present.<\/p>\n
It was there that the couple received the news they had feared.<\/p>\nAdel Murphy-Copeman and Georgie Copeman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Georgie had uterine leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer which develops in the smooth muscle of the uterus.<\/p>\n
She underwent major surgery, including a full hysterectomy, in June 2025, with surgeons operating from her sternum to her pelvis to remove the tumour.<\/p>\n
Adel says the mass removed was around the size of an eight-month foetus.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Further scans initially brought reassuring results, but Georgie repeatedly raised concerns about flu-like symptoms, sweats and feeling fatigued.<\/p>\n
Around Christmas 2025, Georgie began noticing that her stomach was changing again.<\/p>\n
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The couple started taking photographs to document the difference and became increasingly concerned by how quickly it appeared to be growing.<\/p>\n
By the end of February, Adel says Georgie could barely walk from their bedroom to the en-suite bathroom; it was debilitating for her.<\/p>\nGeorgie Copeman was a competitive bodybuilder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After seeking medical help on several occasions, Georgie\u2019s next scan was brought forward.<\/p>\n
In March, they received devastating news.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
But her health deteriorated rapidly.<\/p>\nGeorgie Copeman, from Maidstone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Over the months that followed, Adel says her wife spent 52 days going in and out of Maidstone A&E, hospital wards and the Royal Marsden as she battled infections and complications alongside her cancer treatment.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Her response was simple.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI want to live as well as I can for as long as I can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\nAdel Murphy-Copeman and Georgie Copeman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
District nurses taught Adel how to deal with the drain as she looked after her wife full-time and also kept their business running.<\/p>\n
The couple, who ran Health Hut Nutrition in Maidstone, had initially kept Georgie\u2019s diagnosis private.<\/p>\n
They had met after Georgie\u2019s NHS boss suggested the pair should connect following a documentary Adel had filmed, before properly getting to know each other through Adel\u2019s fitness classes.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It was not until March this year that the couple began telling others Georgie was ill.<\/p>\n
And when they were told there was nothing more doctors could do, their focus increasingly turned towards helping other people understand sarcoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorgie just wanted to help people,\u201d Adel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe never once complained, was angry or was \u2018woe is me\u2019. It was never in our control, so it became: how can we help others?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really wanted to raise awareness, not about Georgie, but about the illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
That determination was funnelled into Sarcoma UK\u2019s Rare But Real Walk at Mote Park earlier this month.<\/p>\nThe Rare But Real walk at Mote Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Adel initially hoped they might persuade 100 people to attend, which they were told was the largest number or participants the charity had managed to get for its walks.<\/p>\n
Then she set herself a much more ambitious target: 500.<\/p>\n
Almost 500 people ultimately turned out, making it the largest Rare But Real event Sarcoma UK has held.<\/p>\n
The couple raised more than \u00a321,500 for the charity.<\/p>\n
Georgie was too unwell to attend in person, but joined those taking part via WhatsApp from her bed at the Heart of Kent Hospice.<\/p>\n
Even from the hospice the day before the walk, she recorded a message encouraging people to support Sarcoma UK and its work. You learn more about the fundraiser and donate here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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