Jill's Story
Hi my name is Jill, in late 2005 I started to feel tired and had abdominal pain. My GP said he could feel a lump and took a faeces sample, the result was negative.
By February 2006 I didn't feel well at all so eventually my daughter called an ambulance. I was admitted and after a CT scan they still weren't sure what was wrong. I had emergency, investigative surgery, I woke up to be told part of my bowel and a tumour had been removed.
Six weeks later I found out the tumour was malignant, Bowel Cancer. The dreaded C word. I needed six months of chemotherapy, several stays in hospital.
Finally September 2006 it was all over, I could finally move on, or so I thought.
I had a CT scan every 4 months, and in June 2008 I was told there were secondary
tumours, metastatic bowel cancer. This time I needed a thoracotomy to remove lumps from my lung. Again I needed chemotherapy, stronger this time.
After a few rounds I was admitted with neutropenia, low white blood cell count, and in danger of organ failure. I didn't feel ill at all. It was decided to have a break from chemotherapy.
January 2009 I suffered an unrelated subarachnoid brain haemorrhage!!
Summer 2010 and the cancer was back in my lung. This time I had a procedure called RFA, radio frequency ablation, literally burnt the lumps away.
Summer 2011 and yet again the cancer was back in my lung, another thoracotomy. Let me tell you it's a very painful surgery to recover from, having ribs broken and all the muscles in your back cut through. I still have problems now.
I didn't have chemo this time, apparently after six weeks from surgery its too late for treatment.
This year 2021 will be my last CT scan, 15 years since it all began and 10 years since the last incident.
It's been a bumpy road, lots of ups and downs. At the end of the day I'm alive.
A cancer diagnosis is devastating, but with support from friends and family you can get through it. My specialist nurse once told me "Its harder to live without cancer than to live with it". So true, the anxiety waiting for test results is awful.
I didn't expect to have a little skirmish with breast cancer in 2018, luckily a regular mammogram showed up the lump, and after a biopsy I was told there was a tiny spot of invasive cancer. Part of my breast was removed, thankfully no chemo but 3 weeks of radiotherapy!
So that's my cancer story!
Rachel's Story
I’d been having symptoms for maybe 2 years before I was diagnosed.
I was feeling really tired, having abdominal pain and also getting a painful burning feeling in the lower part of my stomach after eating some foods. I kept on going to my GP but was just told to take Buscopan, which is a medication to treat stomach pain and IBS.
However the symptoms kept on getting worse, in both April and May 2018 I was admitted to hospital. The doctors diagnosed me with an ovarian cyst. I had a CT scan, MRI scan and ultra sound, but nothing else was found.
I started trying to deal with some of my symptoms myself, by changing my diet, drinking peppermint tea and taking high strength probiotics. This did help soothe some of the symptoms, so I thought maybe I might have a food sensitivity. Yet, the pain in my stomach was still there. I asked my GP for a colonoscopy, but they advised I didn’t need one. I was informed I was too young for anything serious to be going on but I’m my gut I knew something was wrong.
At the time I also had chronic psoriasis, so I thought maybe the medication I was taking for this was the issue.
I went to go see my dermatologist, who looked into the side effects often caused by my psoriasis medication. When realising none of my symptoms matched this, they quickly booked me in for a colonoscopy.
I had appointment with gastro consultant on the 17th August and had my colonoscopy on the 12th November 2018. At my colonoscopy they detailed what I saw on the screen was a lesion on my appendix, which would mean I’d need to be sent for a two week urgent appointment. At this point I was worried, but I thought the worst it would be was an inflamed appendix. I was wrong.
At my next appointment, I was told it looked like I had bowel cancer.
I had an operation within 2 WEEKS and after this I was told that I had stage three or four bowel cancer.
The cancer had spread outside the bowel and the ovarian cyst that was picked up a few months ago, was part of this spread. However, due to my young age, nobody at the time put this down to advanced bowel cancer
It was devastating, but when you find yourself in a position like that, you have no choice but to keep on going.
DURING operation, I had a hysterectomy, as well as the removal of two sections of my bowel and a stoma created. This was really tough to deal with and STILL IS. However, I’m so lucky to have the most amazing step son, Jac, who I absolutely adore. As well as my nieces and nephews, who all give me a reason to smile and laugh again.
After surgery I started eight cycles of chemotherapy.
However, my treatment plan had to be changed as I was having such severe side effects. When I breathed in cold air it was like I was choking and simply washing my hands felt as though I plunged my hands into a bowl of needles. I couldn’t eat or sleep and had sickness for days. I’m so grateful to my husband who helped me with every task and supported me throughout.
My cancer spread to my lung in September 2019. So now I’m stage four. However I had successful surgery in November 2019 and further chemotherapy treatment until April 2020. I recently received some positive news that my scan was clear while on chemotherapy.
I had a follow up scan in September 2020 off treatment and it was finally clear.
I'm currently recovering from my stoma reversal surgery and due my 2nd scan off treatment on the 14th march and hopefully will get the results by the end of the month.
I will continue to be monitored for the next 5 years every 6 months with scans, blood tests and appointments so the nightmare of cancer is still not over. However I am starting to rebuild my life and I started back to work in May 2020 and rebuilding my fitness with Lauren Green at empowered women fitness.
I've also fundraised for Bowel Cancer UK to help make sure in the future that no other family needs to go through what we are. Since 2019 I’ve raised over £2,00 by doing the Cardiff Walk Together and Step Up For 30.
The donations meant so much to me. I’m hoping to do more this year.
It’s my mission and duty to raise awareness as much as I can so no one else experiences this illness that takes so much from you.
The main thing I’ve learnt during this is that you have to keep going.
Being strong or positive doesn’t come into it, it’s just about taking one step after another and live in the moment. Never take your life for granted and if something doesn’t feel right in your body please seek medical advice.
You can follow Rachel on instagram @rachyreedy
Heidi's Story
My warrior story.
Hello, my name is Heidi, I’ve been married 28 years and have two grown-up sons aged 25 and 27.
When I was 31 I found out I’d inherited the mutated BRCA1 gene from my mother which is the faulty breast cancer gene and quite unknown about in 2002 . Within three months I had a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction to reduce my chances of breast cancer. In 2016 aged 45 I had a hysterectomy with BSO to reduce my risk of ovarian cancer. All went well then 17 months later in 2017 after three months of unusual constipation and bloating an unplanned scan diagnosed I had stage 3C peritoneal cancer which was aggressive and it spread throughout my abdomen. 7 weeks later I had full debulking Surgery which involved an 18 inch midline scar removing my peritoneal lining, omentum, appendix, spleen, all large colon, some small bowel, 5 L of fluid and leaving me with a permanent stoma ( Ileostomy). Last year I was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer and six weeks later had half my liver removed along with the tumour and lots of scar tissue from previous op but surprisingly to everyone 3 weeks later it was discovered it wasn’t a cancerous tumour it was a granuloma, a group of cells that mass together. I made a good recovery but since that surgery my cancer markers have been rising higher although scans show Ned and I have kidney damage from severe dehydration meaning I need regular infusions of fluid and magnesium for a magnesium deficiency...otherwise life goes on, I travel when I can, enjoy kayaking, cycling, hiking and generally life itself .
You can follow Heidi on instagram - @stoma_rolls_for_ostomates
Betty's story
Hi, my name is Betty , I’m 34 years old and I was diagnosed with invasive triple negative breast cancer.
I want to share my story with you because what happened to me was unreal and the way it happened to me it can happen to many other women out there.
Back in 2019 I found a little lump on my left breast , I was a bit concerned about it so I decide to go to my GP.
When I finally got my appointment my Doctor said was nothing bad , lumps like that are very common and can appear any time specially if you’re taking contraception pills and that’s was it !!
A few months later I was planning on having a breast augmentation surgery so I looked for a doctor in Brazil because they are the best there. Between messages and video calls about everything I wanted I commented with the doctor about this little lump that I had on my breast , he strongly recommended that I should be seen for a doctor and get an ultrasound as soon as possible. So I did, once again my GP said was nothing to worry about, that I was very young to get cancer etc... I started to cry , I was super anxious and scared, I just wanted to know what was that ! Unfortunately I have cases in my family with other types of cancer , only after this whole situation I got booked in to see a specialist at the hospital. When that day came the same thing happened again , that is nothing to worry about, doesn’t look nothing serious, but he send me to do an ultrasound on that day and on that moment they realised it might be something, so I had biopsy done right away. First diagnosis was that I have a fibroadenoma, which is very common in young women like me , but wasn’t, it was cancer ! I couldn’t believe myself that was happening to me !! Many dark thoughts came to my mind, like that I am going to die ? Is it god punishing me? What I did wrong ? Why me ?
I can’t explain what I felt on that moment, but one thing I knew for sure , I didn’t wanted to die , that I still have so much to live and giving up wasn’t an option and so my journey against breast cancer began . I just need it to know from where to start , chemotherapy or surgery first !I went through thousands of exams MRI , CT scans , Bone scans , mammogram, and others.
I also started to be followed by Macmillan cancer support too .
Macmillan cancer centre they give you all the support and advice you need on that difficult time of your life . You have so many questions, so many doubts, fears, such as health, treatments , job and financially. YES, because if you’re on treatment you won’t be able to work , that was a scary one for me ,because I’m immigrant and I have no family support here. Three weeks later i started my chemotherapy, the most scary day of my life I confess ! You don’t know what’s going to happen, how your body is going to react etc...
Until the worst happened, COVID-19 , pandemic, virus, lockdown... omg I was on chemotherapy treatment, I had no idea what to think !!
Suddenly everything changed, was horrible, you already have so much to deal with and now you have cancer vs covid .
You feel lost , lonely, covid stopped the world but covid does not stop cancer!! Such an uncertain future, but I decided to stay positive, motivated and share my entire treatment process and journey during lockdown period on social media. The reason why I did that was simple , I wanted to pass the message that when you really want something everything is possible. When you deeply believe on it, fight for it and you’ll beat cancer .
Luckily for me I react super well to the treatments , with some ups and downs obviously, some side effects too which is totally normal. I’ve learned you’re allowed to scream, you’re allowed to cry but do not give up ever... you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have . Between chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy a year has passed.
Cancer may have started the fight, but I will finish it .
At the end of the day I am thankful that my blessings are bigger than my fears . Every situation in life is temporary, so when life is good make sure you enjoy the fullest and when life is not so good, it will not last forever and better days are coming
.Enjoy the little things and be joyful , smile more , live more ❤️
You can follow Bettys story on instagram @betty.doria33
