Cancer Mum shares her diary
Sue Gibson was devastated when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Now she has shared extracts from her diary to encourage other women not to be embarrassed and to talk to their doctor if they are worried about possible signs of the disease.
All the more so because, even though she is a nurse, she had ignored severe symptoms for months.
Now Sue has shared extracts from her diary to encourage other women not to be embarrassed and to talk to their doctor if they are worried about possible signs of the disease.
Luckily for Sue her treatment was successful and she is now on the road to recovery. By telling her brutally honest story she hopes it may save other lives.
Bowel Cancer - The facts
What causes bowel cancer?
- Experts do not know precisely what causes most bowel cancers, and in many cases there are no obvious causes.
- We think that diet, lifestyle and family history are the three things most likely to affect a person's chances of developing bowel cancer.
- Your risk of bowel cancer increases with age but it does affect younger people (10 per cent of people dying from bowel cancer are under the age of 50).
How can you improve your lifestyle to reduce your risk of developing bowel cancer?
- Eat a healthy diet. This means eating lots of fruit, vegetables, wholegrain foods and fish, and less fat, red and processed meat.
- Take regular exercise and try to keep a healthy weight.
- Stop smoking.
- Cut back on alcohol.
- Know your body and how it usually functions so that you recognise changes in your bowel habits.
What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?
Not everyone will have symptoms and the symptoms may vary. The most common symptoms to look out for are:
- A persistent change in bowel habit especially going more often or looser for several weeks.
- Bleeding from the bottom without any obvious reason.
- Abdominal pain, especially if severe.
- A lump in your tummy.
Please remember that most of these symptoms will not be cancer. If you have one or more of these symptoms for more than four to six weeks you should go and see your GP.
Help and support
Beating Bowel Cancer is a national charity working to raise awareness of symptoms, promote early diagnosis and encourage open access to treatment choice for those affected by bowel cancer.
For further information or to support their work, contact:
Beating Bowel Cancer, 39 Crown Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 3EJ
Telephone: 020 8892 5256
Fax: 020 8892 1008
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.beatingbowelcancer.org