A young mum who was told she was experiencing ‘pregnancy constipation’ before later being diagnosed with cancer said a cheap screening test kit saved her life.
When primary school teacher Emma Campbell, 39, began experiencing spasm-like contractions whilst carrying her youngest child three years ago, she was told it was just part of her pregnancy.
But when the pain didn’t ease off in the months following her pregnancy, Emma decided to purchase a £39 bowel screening test she’d seen on Facebook.
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“It 100% saved my life as it showed something wasn’t right,” Emma told the Mirror.
After a colonoscopy, Emma, who lives with husband Kari, 38, and kids Jensen, 10, Finlay, seven, and three-year-old Krista in Newcastle, was told she had cancer.
“It was the worst week of my life,” she said. Within weeks of being diagnosed with stage four cancer in February 2020, a chance encounter online saw Emma connect with another woman of her same age in a similar position to her.
After searching #bowelcancer on Instagram, the mum-of-three began chatting to Rebecca Clarke who had been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer two weeks earlier.
“She became my guardian angel,” Emma explains. “I always say 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.”
Finance manager Rebecca, who lives in Sheffield with 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. “I just remember saying, ‘I don’t want to die’, and my husband hugging me,” Rebecca recalls.
“I kept thinking, ‘What if I die and someone else becomes my kids’ mum?’”
After chemo, 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 2021, after both got the all clear, the two pals started fundraising and raising awareness together. So far, they have raised £22,000 for charity.
Emma says TV personality and podcaster Dame Deborah James, who died of the disease last year at just 40, had been a massive inspiration to them both, and she even once messaged the TV star to ask if she would get involved with a reel she was making on Instagram – and she did.
Deborah was also one of the first people Rebecca followed online after her diagnosis.
“She was incredible,” she says. “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
For more information on bowel cancer, please visit Bowel Cancer UK.
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