Young Thatcham mother speaks out about bowel cancer

Melanie McGarry aged 37, is supporting Bowel Cancer UK’s Never Too Young campaign which is highlighting the impact of bowel cancer on younger people.
The campaign has been launched in association with this month’s Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.
She was diagnosed in March 2013 after initially being told that she had haemorrhoids during her pregnancy.
She said: “I went to the doctors on several occasions and was diagnosed with haemorrhoids, common in pregnancy and, with me being 36, it was the obvious diagnosis.
“During the last three months of my pregnancy, the pain got pretty bad, extended across my right hip and down my leg.”
Once her daughter Amelia was born, Ms McGarry was told that her symptoms would calm down, but they did not.
She said: “I was sent for treatment for my piles and it was at this appointment, after I was examined, that I was told there was something wrong.
“It turned out to be rectal cancer. I had a large tumour about the size of an apple. Within a couple of weeks I had had scans and then started chemotherapy four weeks later.
“The cancer had spread to lymph nodes throughout my pelvis.”
After six months of chemotherapy, the cancer had spread no further than one lymph node in her groin, after which she had five weeks of radiotherapy.
Although she said that the tumour and nodes all responded well and had shrunk significantly, she said that the “cancer went crazy elsewhere”.
She added: “A scan just after Christmas showed it had spread to my peritoneum and three or four small tumours in my liver, and an enlarged node in my neck.
“A week after Christmas, I was given less than six months if treatment wasn’t successful.
“I’ve been on chemotherapy since then, and also on Cetuximab (an antibody drug).
“I've obviously had half that time now, and I haven’t deteriorated so hopefully it’s working.”
Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK, and nearly 16,000 people die each year.
Bowel Cancer UK is now urging people to know the symptoms and look out for them.
The chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK, Deborah Alsina, said: “Surveillance screening is proven to be a highly-effective way of preventing and detecting bowel cancer early, but recent evidence has shown there is an inconsistent approach to the management of people at higher risk.”
For more information on symptoms of bowel cancer and the Never too Young Campaign visit