Twitter @bowelcancer

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I'm running my second half marathon in Reading on Sunday 1st April, to raise awareness & raise money for Beating Bowel Cancer UK. At the end of last year a close family friend (from Reading) was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer, & it is because of her strength & determination that I am running this race. Here is her story.....

 

 

..... "I am 32 years old, a new(ish) Mum, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink & I am relatively healthy - hardly a c&idate for bowel cancer at all.  But never-the-less on 21st November 2011 I was diagnosed with that disease.  It came as a complete shock & the first thing I thought of was how could I possibly have cancer??? I’ve got a 10 month old daughter?? But it was really happening.   

My symptoms were abdominal pain, exhaustion, weight loss & diarrhea.  These symptoms were masked & explained by my changing body after child birth.  I went to the doctors about 4 times in the first six months after I had my daughter - the pain was attributed to muscle pain from mastitis & then muscle spasms in my stomach.  It was only after I could not breast feed my daughter any more as I had no nutrition to give her & I was in so much pain & constant exhaustion that I called my doctors saying that I just could not cope anymore. I spoke to a different doctor to my GP & he listened to all my symptoms & I could tell he was worried as he asked me to come to the surgery as soon as I could.  He arranged for blood tests & referred me for an ultrasound.

The blood tests showed that I was severely anemic & that I had high levels of inflammation in my body.  The ultrasound showed really bad inflammation in my small bowel.  I was referred to a gastroenterologist & on my first meeting with him he said that I had all the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.  Before I could start treatment he sent me for an MRI scan.  This came back saying that I had inflammation in my small bowel, the valve between the small bowel & the colon & some inflammation in my colon also.  The specialist decided to start treatment with steroids & that although I didn’t need a colonoscopy as he was sure it was Crohn’s, it would be a good idea to have one done to have the definitive diagnosis.

 

Two days later on 3rd November i was rushed into A&E with a blockage in my bowel.  I has X-Rays & CT scans & was treated with strong IV steroids which I responded to. When I had the CT scan they noticed lesions on my liver & that they would refer me to have those investigated further at a later date.  I stayed in hospital for 2 nights & this was the first time I had been away from my daughter which was heartbreaking.

 

Once I was home I called to book my colonoscopy - they didn’t have an appointment until early December,  I explained that I had been in hospital & whether they could bring the appointment forward-  luckily they could. 

 

On 21st November I had been back at work for 3 half days since leaving hospital & I popped out for an appointment with my specialist to get the results of the colonoscopy.  For some reason I felt a bit nervous, but cancer didn’t once enter my thoughts.  When I was called in my specialist looked at me & said “you are on your own?? I thought your Mum would be with you.” I  should have known when he said that that he had some really bad news for me.  He sat me down & I asked if he had the results yet, & he replied, “yes they came in this morning & it is bad, it is really bad.” Then he said the ‘C’ word.  I felt like a small child, “Oh ok” I replied as I sunk into the chair.  He said he was really sorry & that he didn’t see this coming at all. I am young, I had all the symptoms of Crohn’s & I had responded to the treatment for Crohn’s.  He called a cancer nurse to come & see me as he looked through my notes for any indicators he missed.  Then I remembered “I’ve got lesions on my liver!!” He replied “I’m going to be honest with you, the liver can be the first place bowel cancer can spread to.” As I left the room with the cancer nurse he said “I just can’t believe it.  You look so well, you don’t look like you have cancer.”  That’s when I realised “Oh my God, I’ve got cancer.”  The nurse took me to another room to talk through what had just happened & all I kept saying is “I can’t have cancer, I’ve got a baby.”  Then I had to call my mum & tell her -this was the worst thing I have ever had to do.

 

Things moved relatively quickly from then.  I had another ultrasound to look at the lesions on my liver & they turned out the be cysts rather than tumors. Then I had CT scan to check there were no tumors in my chest & blood tests to check everything.  Luckily my chest was clear but the blood test showed that my anemia had worsened.  I saw my surgeon & he explained that I could have keyhole surgery to remove the tumor but there wasn’t a date until 20th December.  This was devastating as I could potentially miss my little girl’s first Christmas: it may sound silly as this should have been the least of my worries, but she had been my strength & what had got me through such a shock. He also suggested that I needed a blood transfusion & an iron infusion to prevent me from needing an emergency transfusion during the operation.

 

It was when I was having my transfusion that I had a phone call to say my operation had been moved to 12th December, which was the following week. Although it brought the feelings of anxiety & fear to the forefront, I knew it was a better date for me. 

 

I went in at 7.30am & sat around in a waiting room until just after 1pm when they called me for my operation.  It was the scariest moment of my life - I have always had a huge fear of being cut & I had to face this head on!! I still can’t believe I did it - but I had no choice, I had to get this cancer out of me, plus I had to do it for my daughter!!  The operation went well, although the tumor was bigger than they thought.  I felt well after the operation & the nurses & physiotherapists had me eating & moving around quite quickly afterwards.  I was in hospital until the Friday when I could come home to my girl.  I still can’t lift her due to the wounds in my stomach area but she’s such a good girl & I have my wonderful family looking after me.



Christmas was magical! My daughter took her first steps on Christmas Day & we had a very special family Christmas.  I had good news on 4 January; the operation was over 95% successful in removing all of the cancer.  They removed 32 lymph nodes with the tumor & all of those 32 nodes were clear of cancer.  The only thing they were slightly concerned about was one cell that looked like it was about to leave the area & move into my blood stream; what they didn’t know is if this was the first cell to leave or if there were other cells before this one.  The doctor recommended that I considered having a course of chemotherapy to ensure that if there is a stray cell in my body we would have a good chance of nuking it! I saw my oncologist soon after & we decided that we would definitely go for the chemotherapy; it will mean that I go to the hospital every two weeks for six months to have one drug through IV & then I will have to take another drug in tablet form alongside this.  The side effects sound manageable; I won’t lose my hair although it may thin, I might feel sick & I could experience numbness in my fingers & toes.  I feel positive about the treatment as I have been part of the decision making & I will do anything to ensure that the risk of cancer returning is as low as possible so I can see my little girl grow up.  I start the treatment on 31 January.

 

I want to try to work to raise awareness about Bowel Cancer, as although this is considered an older person’s cancer, young people can develop it too - mine isn’t the first case that the specialists have seen & I have personal experience of someone even younger than me who had the same diagnosis of Crohn’s & then cancer, but he wasn’t as lucky as me. The colonoscopy saved my life & I know that my specialist has already said that my case has made him decide that he will refer patients for this test earlier rather than later in the diagnosis cycle.  My advice is that you know your body so well, if you aren’t happy with a diagnosis keep going back until you do feel satisfied, it could save your life xxx"

 

Charlotte is an inspiration to me, & hopefully to many others out there suffering! So please, dig deep & support such a worthy cause.

 

Thanks

Lois

xx