When Megan Horrocks was diagnosed with cancer, she decided to battle it in any way she could. And what she achieved left doctors amazed.
Megan started getting symptoms such as fatigue and a bloated stomach while she was working away as a spa therapist on a yacht. She didn't think too much of it at first, but then her symptoms got worse.
Megan, 30, thought perhaps she was intolerant to gluten. She said her symptoms were "all very subtle" for about six months. Because it "wasn't consistent", she put off doing anything about it, blaming "16-hour days and leading a busy life".
She did, however, eventually go to see her doctor and she was given a blood test, which came back all clear. But, after being referred for further tests last October, she was told she had stage three bowel cancer just a week after her 30th birthday, reports the Liverpool ECHO.
Megan said: "I remember feeling a bit numb. I just thought they were going to tell me I've got crohn's or colitis. I lost my dad when I was 19 to cancer and I just remember feeling like this isn't going to take me.
"My mum broke down, I just felt like I needed to be strong for her. You can get yourself really low but you need to pick yourself back up.
"I just kept going to the gym, I wasn't letting anything stop me. I thought 'cancer is not going to rule my world the way it did when I lost my dad'."
Megan, from Crosby, Merseyside, was referred for radiotherapy and chemotherapy at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool for seven-and-a-half weeks. However, due to the size of the cancer and where it was sat on her lymph nodes, she was told she would also need surgery to remove it.
Megan decided "to take things into her own hands" and look for natural remedies, alongside her cancer treatment and healthy lifestyle. She said: "I did lots of plant medicines, I fuelled myself with healthy stuff, I did lots of natural remedies."
Three months later, prior to surgery, Megan said she asked for an early scan: "They said 'we don't give early scans', but they gave it to me for peace of mind. I said 'I want to know if what I'm doing is working'. They rang me seven weeks after the scan, the doctor goes, 'Megan, it's excellent news'.
"He said the doctors were struggling to find the tumour on the scan. He said 'what have you been doing? Whatever you've been doing is working. Let's get you back in for another scan'."
After undergoing a series of scans followed by a colonoscopy, Megan was told doctors couldn't find any signs of the tumour apart from some scar tissue.
Megan added: "[The doctor] said 'listen, it's not the gold standard, but you don't need an operation. You can just get away with tiny bit of tropic therapy'.
"They said 'what you've done is amazing'. I just completely avoided the invasive surgery they were going to give me."
Megan is now undergoing a type of radiotherapy which aims to target any remaining cells that could be potentially cancerous. She hopes to ring the bell to signal the ‘all clear’ in the near future. Megan has been documenting her cancer journey on Instagram @megghorrocks in a bid to help others.
