I was told I was just constipated – then a strange smell uncovered the deadly truth
FEELING a bit uncomfortable and experiencing cramps is a normal sensation for most women at that time of the month.
So when mum Melissa Ursini started to get stomach pain around her period, she didn’t think much of it.
In January 2021, the 37-year-old started to get random shooting pains near her abdominal area.
Speaking to The Sun, Melissa, who lives in California, US, says they felt a little bit like labour pains.
They continued for six months and eventually Melissa sought the help of doctors.
After being diagnosed with various issues, ranging from constipation, IBS and even a parasite, the recruitment manager was shocked when she was finally diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer in July 2021.
Cancer in the large bowel is known as colorectal cancer and around 34,000 people are diagnosed with it each year in the UK.
In the US around 18,000 people under the age of 50 are diagnosed with colon cancer each year, the American Cancer Society says.
It's still not known what the cause of colorectal cancer is, but various studies suggest the frequency of bowel cancer is greater in countries where people eat a diet high in fat and low in fibre.
It's also previously been found that high alcohol intake, particularly beer, may be linked too.
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Just days before her diagnosis Melissa said she was sick.
“It smelt like diarrhoea and was brown, it was like I was pooping out of my mouth,” she says.
Now Melissa is telling her story to raise awareness of the signs of colon cancer and hopes doing so will help prevent people having to have chemotherapy.
Mum-of-one Melissa says it took her around six months to see a doctor after first experiencing issues.
“I didn’t really go to the doctors often, I was the sort of person who was never really unwell or had colds.
“Even during my pregnancy I was fine.
“The pains in my stomach would come and would sometimes fall around my period.
“At first they were every three weeks and then it increased to two, to one, until I was in pain most days.
“I thought it might have been related to my reproductive health or even that I was going through menopause early,” she says.
The symptoms of colorectal cancer you need to know
Experts at the Royal Marsden said the main symptoms to look out for are a change in bowel habits:
- increased constipation
- alternating periods of constipation
- alternating periods of diarrhoea
- blood or mucus in the stool
- feeling like you haven't emptied your bowel
- constant feeling that you need the toilet
- pain in your abdomen
- feeling tired.
They say that if your symptoms have lasted six or more weeks, including bleeding from the rectum, you need to see a specialist.
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In April 2021 she saw her obstetrician-gynaecologist who did ultrasounds on her bladder and reproductive organs.
Everything came back clear, so Melissa continued going to work and doing the school run.
But the pain got worse and soon Melissa lost her appetite.
She explains: “I’d recently had some dental work done and they had given me amoxicillin for the pain. But I had a nasty reaction to it and was throwing up.
“One of the side effects of amoxicillin is sharp abdominal cramps, so I thought it was just that.
“I went into urgent care, they agreed and gave me some anti-cramping medication to take home.”
The medication helped for a little while, but again the pain continued.
In June it became too much for Melissa. She called in sick at work and asked her mum to take her daughter Regan, 7, to school.
I was being sick and it smelt really bad. It was brown and smelt like diarrhoea, and I guess it technically was
Melissa Ursini
“I went to urgent care again and they ran my blood work and said, ‘I know what you have, you’re just constipated’.
“I was so shocked because I had barely been able to eat anything, so hadn’t really been going to the toilet.
“The doctor told me this was why I was having so much pain and said he didn’t want to give me a CT scan because I was so young, as there is a very small risk associated with cancer.”
Again Melissa was sent home, but on June 18 returned when the pain again became severe.
This time a doctor took a CT scan without contrast - contrast is when the scan is illuminated to help show up any cancer.
Melissa says: “They told me I had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), but the pain was all over my stomach.
“They said they couldn’t explain the cramps.”
By July 3 Melissa’s condition had deteriorated.
She describes herself as an outgoing and chatty person but didn’t feel herself.
“I had to go to the doctors again and this time they told me I had a parasite.
“I told them I hadn't been anywhere due to Covid and they sent me away with antibiotics.
“By this point I was being sick and it smelt really bad. It was brown and smelt like diarrhoea, and I guess it technically was.”
'I SWITCHED OFF'
Luckily, she called her brother-in-law who worked at a hospital around an hour's drive away who told her to come in and that his team would take a look.
Her husband Dominick, 37, who works as an electrician drove her.
She says: “They took another CT scan here and it was then that they saw the mass that was obstructing me - which was why I couldn’t go to the toilet.
“I just sort of switched off and all I heard was the word ‘obstruction’.
“I’m not a ditsy person but at that point I couldn't really hear anyone and it wasn’t until the surgeon came over that I understood that the mass was cancer.”
A mass had been growing inside Melissa’s intestine and that is what had caused the pain.
On July 5, Melissa was admitted to hospital and a day later had a colonoscopy.
On July 7 she had to prepare for surgery and drink a liquid that would help ‘clear her out’.
She finally had surgery on July 8 where medics took out seven inches of intestines and 56 lymph nodes.
They successfully removed all signs of cancer and Melissa was released from hospital five days later.
IN SHOCK
She now has a seven inch scar on her stomach which she says is part of her she is trying to embrace.
She adds: “I’m still really in shock and can’t really believe that it happened to me.
“I thought I was too young to get colon cancer. I thought if that sort of thing were to happen then it would have been breast or ovarian cancer.”
As she recovers, Melissa is receiving treatment at , one of the largest cancer research and treatment organisations in the United States.
Melissa praised the staff there for helping her get back on her feet.
She says: “At first I couldn’t do anything and had even been unable to wash my hair.
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“But now I’m pretty much back to my normal self and I'm exercising again.
“I even went paddle boarding with my husband for our anniversary in October.”
