Shirley’s story

Bowel cancer survivor

“I felt fit and healthy, I had no idea there was anything seriously wrong.”

During the 1980’s at the age of 50, Shirley had no reason to believe she was about to be diagnosed with bowel cancer. She was very active being a working mother, running a music business with her husband Ron and raising four children, two girls and two boys. She had even become a grandmother. Shirley’s free time was equally busy, regularly spent involved in recreational pastimes such as swimming and playing golf. No one could accuse Shirley of being idle!

The first time Shirley was alerted to anything being wrong was when she noticed blood in the toilet. She immediately saw her local doctor and was diagnosed with having polyps, which are tiny growths that form inside the colon or rectum. Polyps can be an early, pre-cancerous indicator of bowel cancer, however, Shirley still didn’t think she had anything to worry about. Shirley’s attitude was, “something as serious as cancer wouldn’t happen to me…not then…not at my age”.

Soon after her visit to her doctor, Shirley was admitted to hospital for surgery to remove the polyps. It was Monday when Shirley underwent the simple, routine operation. The surgeon visited her as she was recuperating and brought with him devastating news. While removing the polyps, the surgeon discovered a malignant growth inside Shirley’s bowel. Shirley had bowel cancer. She was then scheduled for another round of surgery three days later.

The news, as expected, came as a shock. Physically, Shirley felt no different than normal. She couldn’t think of any incidence of bowel cancer one in her family, that could explain why she had developed the condition. It seemed to be a mystery. Shirley was active and ate properly. There didn’t seem to be anything in her lifestyle to have caused the illness.

The surgery was successful. The surgeon removed all of the cancerous growth in Shirley’s bowel. The cancer had been caught in time and Shirley didn’t require any further treatment.

Some years after having the operation, two of Shirley’s aunts on her father’s side were diagnosed with bowel cancer. Shirley’s parents died from cancer affecting their kidney and bladder, and she discovered her maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather had died of cancer of the gallbladder and stomach respectively. There was now a definite family history of bowel related cancer in Shirley’s family.

Sadly, 12 years after Shirley’s diagnosis, Ron contracted bronchitis and developed a heart murmur and was referred to a specialist. During the examination, the specialist detected a growth on Ron’s liver. Further tests revealed the liver was a secondary cancer and that Ron had advanced bowel cancer. Unlike Shirley, there was no history of bowel cancer in Ron’s family.

Shirley is now in her 70’s and still lives an active life. She swims and plays golf as she has always done and “lives to shock the grand kids”. The family has grown considerably. Shirley is proud grandmother of 12 grandchildren and has five great-grandchildren. Shirley’s life is both hectic and a lot of fun. While Shirley’s story happened during the 1980’s it is still true for a lot of women today. Many women see bowel cancer as a ‘male-only’ disease, but the reality is that women are as much at risk of getting the cancer. According to Cancer in Australia 2001(AIHW & AACR 2003) ‘bowel cancer is a major public health problem in Australia. Nationally, around 90 Australians die each week from the disease. It is the most commonly occurring internal cancer and the second most common cause of cancer related death, after lung cancer’.

Asked if there was any message Shirley wanted to give to men and women in relation to bowel cancer she replied, “be aware it exists…if you’re 50 and over, experience any symptoms, or if you have a family history, please see your doctor before it is too late”.

And yes, Shirley has made sure each of her children see their doctor to check for any signs of bowel cancer…and she’ll get her kids to make sure the grandchildren and great-grand children do the same when they get older.

Shirley was lucky. She noticed blood after having been to the toilet and saw her doctor straight away. The fact is that bowel cancer can develop with few, if any, early warning symptoms. Symptoms of bowel cancer can include bleeding from the rectum or any sign of blood after a bowel motion, a recent and persistent change in bowel habit, for example looser bowel motions, severe constipation and/or needing to go to the toilet more than usual, unexplained tiredness (a symptom of anaemia), and abdominal pain.

Blood can, however, be present within faecal matter before becoming visible. The best way to detect blood and to screen for possible cancer is with a faecal occult blood test (FOBT). Talk to your doctor to find out more.