A brave Newcastle mum met her best friend after meeting online weeks after they were both diagnosed with bowel cncer.
Emma Campbell and Rebecca Clarke were both aged just 36 when they received the shattering diagnosis, but were inspired to tackle bowel cancer together by campaigner Dame Deborah James. Primary school teacher connected with Rebecca after searching #bowelcancer on Instagram.
The mum of three had been diagnosed with stage four cancer in February 2020, so finding Rebecca, who learned she had advanced bowel cancer two weeks earlier, was a godsend. Emma, now 39, told The Mirror: "She became my guardian angel.
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"I always said Becca was the best thing to come out of cancer, I was so scared and lonely those first few weeks. When I found her on Insta, I realised I wasn't the only young person to get bowel cancer."
Emma, of Forest Hall, was pregnant with her youngest child Krista, now three, when she felt two sharp spasms like contractions in early 2019. She was told that it was pregnancy constipation.
She gave birth in May of the same year, but when the pain returned in September, she ordered a £39 bowel cancer screening test she had spotted on Facebook. She continued: "It 100% saved my life as it showed something wasn’t right."
After a colonoscopy, Emma, who lives with husband Kari, 38, and kids Jensen, 10, Finlay, seven, and Krista, was told she had cancer. She described it as the worst week of her life.
Meanwhile, Sheffield-based finance manager Rebecca, who lives with her husband Simon, 36, and children Alfie, seven and Evelyn, four, had decided to seek help after weeks of fatigue and changing bowel habits. She was diagnosed with cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes and surrounding tissue.
She said: "I just remember saying, 'I don't want to die,' and my husband hugging me. I kept thinking, 'What if I die and someone else becomes my kids' mum?'"
After having chemotherapy, Rebecca had part of her bowel and 19 lymph nodes removed in April 2020. That September, Emma had a section of large intestine and a tumour removed.
By January, after both had received the all clear, the two pals started fundraising and raising awareness together and have so far raised £22,000 together. Emma says that Dame Deborah James, the journalist and bowel cancer campaigner who died in 2022 aged 40, was a massive inspiration to her and Rebecca.
She even messaged the TV star to ask her if she would get involved with a reel she was making on Instagram, which she accepted. Deborah was also one of the first people Rebecca followed online after her diagnosis.
Emma finished: "She was incredible, it was really painful to see what she went through but the awareness she raised was so important for people of our age to show that it can happen. We want people to trust their gut, go to the doctor and know they are NEVER too young to get this."
Things to watch out for
Bowel Cancer UK is always steadfastly promoting the #KnowTheHigh5 symptoms of bowel cancer to make sure more people understand what to look out for – and what to do if something doesn’t feel right:
- Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
- A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
- Unexplained loss
of weight - Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
- A pain or lump in your tummy
To find out more visit bowelcanceruk.org.uk.
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