In November last year I was diagnosed with Stage 3 bowel cancer.
I have always been fit and healthy and it came as a huge shock to me and my family.
I started getting pain in my stomach when I would go to the gym which I assumed was a hernia.
After a couple of months, the pain became more persistent and one day I noticed some blood in my stool.
At that point I booked an appointment with my GP who luckily sent me for a CT scan.
There was thickening of the lining which they then recommended a colonoscopy.
From there my life changed very quickly.
The tumour was completely blocking the bowel, and I was scheduled for surgery the next week.
They removed the tumour, but it had spread to the lymph nodes. I have recently completed six months of chemotherapy.
My one piece of advice:
For me, the blood didn’t show in my stool until the tumour was blocking the bowel so I think the stool sample kits may give people a false sense of security.
If the age recommendation for a colonoscopy was reduced I would’ve detected it sooner which could’ve prevented it spreading to the lymph nodes.
I feel the age should be reduced to 35 years for a colonoscopy given the number of young people being diagnosed recently.
My advice would be to not let any pain felt in the stomach be left unchecked and request a colonoscopy.
