Debbie Warner, Bexley, South London
My mother, Mary Lewthwaite, died aged 64 of bowel cancer in March 2015 just four months after diagnosis.
My mum had experienced symptoms for a few years before her diagnosis. She'd had stomach issues that were just put down to IBS or menopause.
After multiple visits to the GP I helped to put pressure on them and pushed for a CT scan. At the CT scan they found one tumour in the small bowel and a secondary tumour on the liver. She was later diagnosed with neuroendocrine bowel cancer.
She was given injections of Ocreotide to try and shrink the tumours however they said no surgery could be completed. Four months after her diagnosis she was taken into hospital due to extreme pain. They told us the tumour was perforating her small bowel.
My mum had surgery, which we hoped would save her life, however there was nothing we could do to save her and we had to turn off the life support machine.
This will haunt me for the rest of my life, as looking back she had symptoms for years but was always misdiagnosed with something else. I miss my mum Mary Lewthwaite so much. I now have to have a colonoscopy every year as I have had pre-cancerous polyps found. It has also been discovered that we have Lynch syndrome in the family, which means I am more likely to develop cancer in the future.
Neuroendocrine bowel cancer is so rare, hence why they call people that have it (and other rare illnesses) zebras, as doctors are trained to think horses when they hear hoof beats not zebras. I hope by raising awareness of my mum's story more people will recognise zebras.
