A little over a month ago, Kiko Matthews arrived in Barbados. She had been at sea for 50 days, and had just become the fastest woman ever to row solo across the Atlantic.

It would be an awe-inspiring triumph by anyone’s standards. But breaking the iconic rowing record was an even more remarkable victory for a woman who had recently recovered from brain surgery. To make things even more impressive, Matthews’ trip across the Atlantic raised more than £100,000 for the hospital that had treated her – and before embarking on this voyage, she’d never rowed before in her life.

When Stylist catches up with Matthews, it’s the fundraising element of the journey that she speaks of with most pride. She is cheerfully sanguine, almost offhand, about the intense physical and psychological challenges of spending almost two months alone on the ocean: “It was very easy. Literally, all I had to do was rent a boat, sit in it, row, and get from A to B… I’m more proud of the fact that I raised £100,000 for King’s [College Hospital in London] than the actual rowing itself.”

A former science teacher, Matthews, now 37, was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease in 2009. The extremely rare condition affects the pituitary gland, resulting in an overproduction of the hormone cortisol, and can cause high blood pressure and depression. It’s so rare that Matthews’ father, a GP, didn’t consider the possibility that she might have it, even though she had developed many of the symptoms: more body hair than usual, strangely skinny legs, stopped periods, insomnia, spots, a puffy stomach.

“My mum was the one who thought I might have it, because she’d looked it up on the internet,” Matthews laughs. “My dad was like, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. She won’t have Cushing’s; no one has Cushing’s!’”

She broke the Atlantic rowing record – months after having a tumour removed