Seven months ago, my world was turned upside down.

At just 35 years old, and as a mum to two young girls, bowel cancer was the last thing I ever expected to hear. I had gone into hospital for planned endometriosis excision surgery. However, just 45 minutes later, I was woken up in recovery by my surgeons and told the surgery could not go ahead as planned. During a colonoscopy performed before the procedure, they had found bowel cancer.

They explained the tumour was about the size of a golf ball, but at that stage we didn’t know how far it had spread.

That was a Friday in November last year. The weekend that followed was the worst of my life. I didn’t know if I would be around to watch my two daughters, Zara (6 at the time) and Peyton (4 at the time), grow up.

Fortunately, CT scans and blood tests showed no evidence of metastatic disease, and surgery was scheduled for December 2025.

I underwent a robotic extended right hemicolectomy. In simple terms, surgeons removed around 40cm of my colon, my appendix, the tumour, 21 lymph nodes, and a small section of my small intestine.

After three days in hospital and a difficult recovery, we received the best news we could have hoped for given the size of the tumour. The cancer was Stage 2A. It had grown through the first layer of the bowel wall but no further. It had not spread to my lymph nodes, and I would not need chemotherapy or radiation treatment.

Instead, I would require five years of surveillance, including annual CT scans, blood tests and colonoscopies.

However, during the original colonoscopy, multiple polyps had also been identified. Four months after surgery, in April this year, I underwent my follow-up colonoscopy. Another nine polyps were removed, bringing the total to ten polyps plus the cancerous tumour.

All of the polyps were pre-cancerous sessile serrated polyps, and I was diagnosed with Serrated Polyposis Syndrome (SPS), the condition that more than likely caused my bowel cancer.

As a result, I will now require colonoscopies every 6 to 12 months for the rest of my life.

I have since undergone genetic testing, which came back normal. At this stage, researchers have not identified a specific genetic cause for most cases of Serrated Polyposis Syndrome, although that may change in the future. What we do know is that my brother and my children are now considered at higher risk and will require monitoring themselves.

While I am incredibly fortunate, there is still a 5–10% chance that my cancer could return. But I choose not to focus on that.

What I do think about is how differently this story could have ended.

My cancer could have been detected as Stage 1. It could have been found as pre-cancerous polyps. I could have been diagnosed with Serrated Polyposis Syndrome years earlier.

Two years before my diagnosis, I experienced an episode of bleeding that sent me to the emergency department. CT scans and blood tests showed nothing concerning, so I was sent home.

A few months later, I began experiencing ongoing gastrointestinal symptoms. I was told it could be lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, hormones, or stress. I asked to see a gastroenterologist. A faecal calprotectin test came back slightly elevated but nothing alarming. I asked whether I should have a colonoscopy, but I was told it wasn’t really necessary. So I listened. After all, doctors know best, right?

Months passed and my symptoms didn’t improve. They weren’t getting significantly worse, but they certainly weren’t getting better

Eventually, I saw a new GP and told them I believed I had endometriosis.

I was right.

I was diagnosed with both endometriosis and adenomyosis and referred to an endometriosis specialist. She agreed I needed excision surgery, but she also wanted me to have a colonoscopy first.

I met with a colorectal surgeon who agreed that some of my symptoms, combined with my previous bleeding episode, warranted further investigation. At one point I asked if we could delay the colonoscopy by five months. He said that would be fine because there was nothing obviously alarming.

And that colonoscopy saved my life.

Today, I am incredibly passionate about raising awareness and funds for bowel cancer, particularly early-onset bowel cancer.

I share my story because I hope it helps someone else advocate for themselves.

Three years ago, I didn’t know how.

I didn’t know I could push harder. I didn’t know I could insist on further investigation. I didn’t know that being young didn’t mean bowel cancer wasn’t possible.

Doctors, specialists and hospitals need to be more aware of the alarming rise in early-onset bowel cancer. But as patients, we also need to know our bodies and trust ourselves when something doesn’t feel right.
If something isn’t right, keep asking questions.

Keep pushing for answers.

Don’t let anyone tell you there is nothing wrong until it has been properly investigated.

Because sometimes, persistence can save your life.

Now 7 months on I am back to my normal life, feeling healthier, stronger and fitter then I was previously, however I now live with the ongoing side effects and complications that come with a cancer diagnosis and major surgery.