A mum-of two has told how she was diagnosed with terminal cancer at 38 after doctors had dismissed her symptoms as IBS for three years.
Now 40, Claire Gunn, from Reddish, Stockport, is undergoing chemotherapy after receiving the devastating news, reported the Manchester Evening News.
The mother-of-two had just welcomed her baby daughter to the world when she was told she had bowel cancer aged 38 in 2019.
After several rounds of treatment, she "beat the cancer," only to find in January this year the disease had spread.
Claire, who also has a 21-year-old son, had gone to her GP with a raft of symptoms.
After some debate, doctors believed she had irritable bowel syndrome and sent her home with medication.
But in 2019, just a few months after the birth of her daughter, Claire went back to her GP as medication was having little effect, and her problems continued.
"I was misdiagnosed with IBS," explains Claire.
"The GP told me 'we can't work out what's wrong with you'. They supplied me with a load of different tablets, they probably didn't help.
"I went to my GP with a really achy leg one day, and the doctor said 'we'll have to get you to hospital'.
"The doctors thought it may have been something to do with my appendix.
"Then they realised it had been perforated and burst. The cancer had actually gone through my appendix and my bowel had to be removed.
"I was diagnosed with bowel cancer when my daughter was four months old."
Claire, who was just 38 when she was diagnosed with cancer, began chemotherapy and surgery.
In 2020, her outlook appeared to be improving, as tests gave the all clear.
But sadly medics later discovered the cancer had spread.
"In January of this year, I was due to have surgery to have my colostomy bag reversed," she said.
"When I woke up, the bag was still there and I thought, 'oh no, what's happened?'
"The doctors found out the cancer had spread to my gall bladder and liver. I had to have more treatment, chemotherapy again."
Now, Claire says she is in limbo as she waits for medics to decide whether she is a candidate for a radical treatment involving yet more surgery and chemotherapy.
If she qualifies for the operation, she could have five years to live but if not, Claire's prognosis is just one to three years.
Either way, the operation will only prolong her life, as she is currently told the cancer is incurable.
"I hope I'm a good enough candidate, I'm young and I have two children," says Claire, hopefully.
"It's difficult because you're just left with your thoughts while doctors decide whether or not to do the operation.
"I don't think I would have got through it all without my daughter and my son. They're my security blankets."
Claire's friends are trying to raise money to send the family on the trip of a lifetime to Disneyland Paris to "make memories", in case Claire deteriorates further and is does not qualify for more treatment.
The mum, now 40, says it would "mean the world" to her children, little Ava-Mae, born in 2019, and 21-year-old Joshua.
Claire's friends say her shock cancer diagnosis "shattered her heart" after three years of believing her symptoms were down to IBS.
"Claire was a single parent to her now 21-year-old son and her newborn daughter, who was born quite poorly and had to stay in NICU for a while, so she had that to contend with too," A friend of Claire's said.
"Still, Claire battled and fought the cancer like the true warrior she is.
"After three months of having chemo, major surgery and various other treatments that made her very poorly, her hair thinning and falling out, she finally got the news in 2020 that she had successfully kicked the cancer's butt and was all clear.
"Fast forward six months, Claire was in hospital to have her colostomy bag removed, the final farewell to her last four years of hell.
"Sadly, when they opened her up they found more cancer in her gallbladder and liver.
"Claire has now had the absolutely soul destroying devastating news that she is untreatable with chemo alone and can’t be cured.
"She will still undergo chemo and very soon another major op. These interventions will only prolong Claire’s life.
"We really want to raise the funds to send our best friend on the trip of a lifetime with Josh and Ava-Mae.
"Claire really is the most beautiful, kind, generous and loving person to anyone that knows her or meets her. She is the bravest, most courageous woman we know and she would do the exact same thing as this for any of her friends and family."
Claire added: "Even my 21-year-old would be excited for Disneyland.
"Just to have that family time, the opportunity to make memories, you never know how long you've got - whether it's cancer or an every day life. I'm not putting anything on hold now, I've started going to university, it's difficult with a two-year-old, but it's now or never.
"But when you've been told you've got incurable cancer, you're living every day thinking 'is it my last?'
"It would mean the absolute world to us. We wouldn't be able to get there without this help. I'm absolutely speechless that my friends have done this, and all the messages I've been getting from people who are going through the same thing themselves.
"Bowel cancer is something that's normally associated with much older people, there needs to be more awareness that people my age are suffering too."
If you would like to donate to the fundraiser for Claire, visit the GoFundMe page.
