Matthew Jackson, Staffordshire

I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2023, aged 25.

For about a year, I experienced light-headedness, brain fog, extreme tiredness and sometimes I’d go yellow in the face. I also lost about 30% of my body weight which was a big alarm bell.

I went to my GP and had some blood tests which showed I was severely anaemic, as well as having pretty much every other deficiency. I was brushed off and told it was down to stress or my lifestyle.

I’m so lucky to have then had a fantastic GP, she was a locum and was more concerned than those I‘d seen previously. She gave me a FIT test (faecal immunochemical test) to complete which showed I had a lot of blood in my stool, although it wasn’t visible. She referred me for a colonoscopy, but it was rejected because of my age. Thankfully, my GP kept pushing. I then saw a gastroenterologist who referred me for an urgent colonoscopy, but at this point they reassured me that I was too young to have cancer.

Four days later, I had a colonoscopy. During it, I could see a tumour on the screen. It looked horrible, and I could tell from the expressions of the professionals that it was bad. Afterwards, they called me into a room and told me there and then, that I had cancer. They explained they would analyse the tumour and call me back with the results.

Three weeks later I was called in. They said it was stage 3 bowel cancer and that it had spread to several lymph nodes which were swollen. I needed immediate surgery to remove the whole right side of my colon and my appendix, and I should expect to have chemotherapy.

My loved ones were shocked, but me and my fiancé almost expected the diagnosis. We both instinctively knew something was wrong because I never complain about my health. We went into fight or flight mode, and I was laser-focused on getting as fit as possible before surgery.

I felt quite alone as everyone else I encountered with bowel cancer was elderly. A few times in hospital, professionals would come up to me and say I was the ‘talk of the town’, and it made me feel a bit like a circus freak. Reading the experiences of young people on Bowel Cancer UK’s website helped. It was a real comfort to know I wasn’t the only one.

I waited two and a half weeks for surgery. It would have been sooner, but due to my anaemia I had to have two iron infusions beforehand. The surgery went really well. It was robotic, and considering it was major surgery, it didn’t feel hugely invasive. All I have is three little scars on my stomach and one larger one where they pulled out the colon. Because of the location I didn’t need a stoma. I was out of hospital after five days and I was running again after two weeks. I’m aware that I was remarkably fortunate to have had robotic surgery, as unfortunately this isn’t available everywhere.

While the physical recovery was fast, I did experience brain fog and tiredness for a few months afterwards. This worried me but the surgeon explained it was normal.

Two weeks after surgery the results came back, and the doctors were just as surprised as I was. No lymph nodes were affected. Even better, the cancer was actually classed as early stage 2, and hadn’t breached the wall of the colon so I didn’t need chemotherapy. Tests showed that it also wasn’t genetic.

I wasn’t expecting this news in a million years. It sounds morbid, but in the six weeks that I believed it was advanced stage 3, I was coming to terms with dying. To go from feeling so unlucky, to then being so lucky, was staggering and surprisingly difficult to contend with. I found it quite mentally challenging. Before the surgery, there was so much adrenaline but afterwards, I had to come to terms with everything. Everyone expects you to get back to normal but it’s not possible. I have a different outlook on life. All those every-day things that make us angry and upset suddenly seem so trivial. It made me reassess my priorities in life because I’m so grateful to be here.

My key message is to trust the signs your body gives you. If you feel that something isn’t right, please make sure this is known by the health services and keep pressing.