My story is a bit of the more unfortunate ones, not that any cancer diagnosis is ever fortune, we just caught it a lot later in its progression than one would have hoped. I was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal adenocarcinoma at just 3.5 months postpartum, my cancer was aggressive and spreading at an accelerated rate. My symptoms were easily passed off as pregnancy and postpartum symptoms. This is why I am making it my mission to raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms, what
they are and when to act. It is important you trust your 'gut feeling' when something doesn't feel right by acting on your symptoms and talking to your GP.
I believe that a problem shared is a problem halved, sharing my journey has genuinely helped me disconnect myself as the patient at times which helps me see my journey from an outsiders perspective and helps me in my mission to raise as much awareness as I possibly can.
More times than I can count, I've had random people/followers tell me that following my journey has helped them in their own, whether it be using me and my journey to advocate for their own health with health professionals that may not have taken them as seriously otherwise, or if they'd already been diagnosed, they've
used me and my journey as hope that they too can get through their darkest days to stand out the other end, not that I'm there yet but briefly I was and I know how much hope that gave people following along.
In terms of advice, I'll continue to tell anyone and everyone, not just young mums, that their health matters. Without our health we are quite simply nothing, we should be in tune with our bodies to an extent that if something seems up, we are able to raise our concerns with our health professionals and genuinely demand to be heard, and have their symptoms taken seriously.
My 'positive' outlook comes from a mind over matter perspective, if cancer consumes my mind it'll be a hell of a lot harder to overcome the disease. Because the disease is just a tiny part in my journey and I'm hoping it's a chapter I get to close sooner rather than later and leave behind for a very long life with my family.
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