I was 32 when I presented to Emergency with episodes of heavy rectal bleeding. I had collapsed in the ER due to blood loss and woke up in the resus room. I thought I was going to leave being told it was related to haemorrhoids from the birth of my son two years earlier or maybe even that I had a food intolerance as my bowel movements had been a little different lately.
Instead I got scheduled in for a colonoscopy. When waiting to be called in for a colonoscopy I remember looking around at all the old people thinking to myself this is probably nothing.
When I woke up I noticed all the old people had gone home and I was the only one in recovery and the doctor walked in with my husband and closed the curtain and told me he had found a large mass in my sigmoid colon and about 20 polyps throughout my large colon. He mentioned the words bowel cancer and I looked at my husband in shock. The doctor asked me about my family history, and I said no one has had bowel cancer and he said it's sadly becoming more and more common in people my age. I was sent off for a CT scan to see if it had spread. I was then scheduled in for a total colectomy where they removed my entire large colon and joined my small intestine to my rectum.
I had my surrounding lymph nodes removed and tested and it came back positive with cancer cells. It was then that I was officially diagnosed with stage III bowel cancer. After my six weeks of recovery time, I would then start chemo.
I'm currently in round 3 of chemotherapy and it's by far the hardest thing I have done in my life, but I am not giving up. I have two small children who need their Mummy so I will do it for them and for my beautiful husband but I will also do it for me so I can live a life to my absolute fullest and live for those who can't because of this horrible disease.
Knowing everything I know now; my advice is especially for young people: this CAN happen to you. Please familiarise yourself with the symptoms and start talking to your friends and family about their bowel movements. Make it normal to talk about poo and check in on each other’s health.