Dr Anisha discusses Bowel Cancer symptoms
When Geraldine Dennis first started noticing blood in the toilet, she didn’t think much of it. The grandma-of-four, from Somerset, assumed she might have piles and wasn’t too concerned.
Even when she started to lose weight she thought it must be due to her active lifestyle. It wasn’t until the bleeding worsened, making her poo seem black in colour that she sought medical help.
Following various tests she was told the devastating truth – that she had stage four bowel cancer at the age of 66. Further investigation showed the cancer had spread and she had as many as 10 tumours growing on her liver. Doctors gave her between 18 and 24 months to live.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, she recalled the earliest symptoms she had.
“A couple of years before I was diagnosed, I’d had some bleeding but no pain,” Geraldine said.
READ MORE Cancer patient, 70, shares 27-hour ‘dreadful’ ordeal in hospital
Geraldine Dennis was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer at the age of 66 (Image: Geraldine Dennis)
“I’d always been slim because I’m very active, but a couple of friends noticed I’d lost weight. I just put it down to my active lifestyle and didn’t give it any more thought.
“Every now and then I’d go to the loo and there’d be a show of fresh blood, but I assumed it was piles.
“The thought that it might be bowel cancer never crossed my mind – I thought that was something that only affected really old people.
“If I’d gone to the doctor as soon as I noticed anything different things might have been a little easier.”
After she spotted her stools turning black she went to see her GP who referred her for a test where a camera was inserted into her lower bowel.
She didn’t get called back to the hospital for another three months, during which time her symptoms continued to worsen.
Geraldine pictured at the time she was undergoing rounds of chemotherapy (Image: Geraldine Dennis)
Eventually she was given a barium enema – a test that helps to highlight the large bowel so it can be clearly seen on an X-ray
“I knew something was not right when the room turned silent,” Geraldine, now 78, said.
Two days later she was called to hospital to start a series of scans.
She said: “I was provisionally booked for bowel surgery on New Year’s Eve, but some shadows had been seen on my liver, so it needed further investigation.
“I was called to hospital two days after Christmas, told that my liver had 10 tumours that they could count, and I could not have the bowel operation, as my liver could not take it.
“It was stage four, terminal. I asked how long I had, and was told that, as an average, 18 – 24 months.”
Since being declared cancer-free Geraldine lives life to the fullest with line dancing one hobby (Image: Geraldine Dennis)
Mum-of-two Geraldine underwent four cycles of oxaliplatin and capecitabine – a type of chemotherapy.
This allowed surgeons to successfully operate on her bowels.
But a few months later a check-up found a small tumour in her liver.
“I had surgery to remove it but unfortunately had quite a severe infection after the operation which took some time to get over,” Geraldine said.
“I had a whole year being clear but then my doctors found three more small tumours in my liver which were again operable.”
As of today Geraldine has been cancer-free for 10 years and said she is living life “to the full”.
“I still live life to the full and count myself very lucky to be here, thanks to the wonderful treatment I received on the NHS,” she said.
Now she is urging others to act on any symptoms they experience and seek medical help as soon as possible.
“I would advise anyone who has a show of blood, to get checked immediately,” she said.
Geraldine added: “My message to anyone who has just been diagnosed, or is going through treatment is don’t give up, be active as much as possible, rest when you need it, each day is a bonus so enjoy it!”
She is supporting the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK and its fundraising prize draw with Omaze.
To be in with a chance of winning a luxurious house in Cheshire worth £3.5 million, along with £100,000 in cash, visit omaze.co.uk.
According to the NHS, symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
- Needing to poo more or less often than usual for you
- Blood in your poo, which may look red or black
- Bleeding from your bottom
- Often feeling like you need to poo, even if you’ve just been to the toilet
- Tummy pain
- A lump in your tummy
- Bloating
- Losing weight without trying
- Feeling very tired for no reason.