Christopher Bray, Sheffield
I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in December 2023, aged 42.
The lead up to my diagnosis, I was becoming increasingly tired, to the point where walking up the stairs was a struggle. When I got up too quick, I would become dizzy. In the night I was running to the toilet with stomach pains and needing to poo. By this point I’d also lost about a stone or two without trying. But I was putting off going to the doctors and ignoring my symptoms.
It was my wife that saved my life. She begrudgingly made me go to the doctor’s but I thought it would be nothing.
At the doctors, they gave a FIT test, which showed no signs of blood in my poo, but the blood test did show I was anaemic. I started on iron supplement tablets, but it didn’t make a difference and I was finally given an iron infusion. I was referred to a gastroenterologist and he explained my iron levels were as low as 70 year old. He referred me for colonoscopy.
At the colonoscopy appointment we were told that I had bowel cancer, in a little side room. I was shocked and swore a lot and I remember my wife’s hand wrapping around mine like a vice. It was a few days before Christmas.
The worst part was waiting from the initial diagnosis to the appointment where I found out the prognosis and journey. There were so many sleepless nights with scenarios going through my head. While trying to remain strong for my family and keep up a brave face while thinking that this could be my last.
We met my colorectal team to discuss my journey I don’t remember much about this meeting, as at this point, I didn’t know my stage or future. They didn’t have all the answers and they were running further tests. We were told that it wasn’t terminal but worse than they wanted it to be. I was stage 3, it was nearly through the walls of the bowel and going towards the liver.
They discovered that my cancer was MSI high, and normal chemo wouldn’t work, and I was inoperable, the tumour was in my large and small bowel, this meant I was eligible for a treatment called Immunotherapy which was still in its test phase.
My first round of treatment started in February, the nurses were amazing — they let my wife sit in with me and explained everything that they were doing.
I had between six and eight rounds of treatment but in May I began to suffer with going to the toilet — I wasn’t eating and if I ate I threw up. I went to A&E and was rushed in, scans revealed that my bowel was blocked and I needed to have a stoma fitted. A surgeon came in and explained that I needed this fitting, I told him I didn’t want a bag on. He explained in the nicest way possible that if I didn’t have one fitted it was going to be a different outcome; I decided to have a stoma fitted. He was called Stoma Steve and he was a god send. I was able to eat again and carry on treatment.
A few months later I had a to see if the tumour had shrunk enough to be able to operate on, I got the news I wanted! I was ready for my operation. The surgeon explained to me the procedure and the risks. He wasn’t sure if he could do it keyhole or if I had to be sliced open and wasn’t sure if he could reverse my stoma in the same operation. I awoke hours later to a very emotional wife, who confirmed they reversed my stoma and I had a cracking scar down my belly.
I spent a week in the hospital, five of them in a high dependency unit due to an infection.
A week later I got a call from my wonderful colorectal nurse who confirmed that they got everything they needed and I was clear. She then told me that the treatment had worked and the tumour was completely destroyed.
I'm now in remission, going for regular bloods. I've had one colonoscopy since my operation and there was no signs of polyps or cancer in my bowel. I’m now having one every two years and I've recently had a routine CT which I'm awaiting the results of along with my three monthly routine bloods.
I know it’s silly, but I sometimes feel guilt. That my story turns out how it did. That my treatment didn’t have the horrific side effects that chemo does. But it’s given me a better outlook on life that I’ve been given a second chance and to go live life. Enjoy it cause you’re not sure what your future holds.
