Terminal Cancer Patient Issues Warning About Small Symptom That Could Signal Deadly Illness

Susan described the early signs of her illness as “strange” and “subtle.” Fatigue, constipation, and occasional bouts of severe pain had become part of her life, yet she initially dismissed them as minor inconveniences or effects of early menopause. “I’d drive my daughter 15 minutes to her rowing lessons and have to stop on the way home for a 40-minute nap,” Susan recalled. “That’s not normal. That was a warning sign, but I brushed it off, thinking it was just part of getting older.” She also traveled to France for a friend’s wedding, where she experienced constipation for the first time in her life. “I just wasn’t going properly,” she explained. “I blamed it on rich food, too much cheese, too much indulgence. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

Upon returning to Brisbane, her symptoms worsened dramatically. Susan described a harrowing episode in which she collapsed onto her bathroom floor in extreme pain. Vomiting, diarrhea, and intense cramping persisted for eight hours. “It was worse than childbirth. I was crawling into the shower, trying to relieve the pain with heat. On a scale of one to ten, it was a nine,” she said. Initially, she thought she might have contracted salmonella from her horse, but the true cause would soon be revealed in a far more serious diagnosis.

Susan stressed that bowel health is often treated as a taboo subject, which can prevent early detection of serious conditions. “I didn’t talk about my bowel habits—who does?” she said. “That’s part of the problem with bowel cancer. People don’t raise the alarm early enough, and it can cost lives.” Indeed, despite her alarming symptoms, early blood and stool tests failed to show abnormalities, and initial consultations with doctors led her to believe she was fine.Continue reading…