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FOBBED OFF
I was told I had bowel cancer on my wedding day – after doctors told me I was ‘TOO FAT’ to have the disease
Plus, the most common symptoms of bowel cancer to look out for
A BRIDE was horrified to discover she had bowel cancer on her WEDDING DAY - despite claiming doctors "fobbed her off" as being "too fat" to have it.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, and the second most deadly after lung cancer.
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As there's currently no cure, testing and the early spotting of symptoms is key.
As of today, the NHS has lowered the bowel cancer screening age from 60 to 50 - a huge win for campaigner Dame Deborah James, who sadly lost her battle to the disease aged 40 in 2022.
Claire Boulton, who found out she had bowel cancer on her wedding day, has been battling cancer on and off for the last five years.
The shock diagnosis came in April 2019, and she's currently awaiting surgery this week.
Read more on bowel cancer
Claire had been at the hairdresser's just hours before marrying her husband, Matthew Boulton, in 2019 when doctors rang to say they had found cancer in a polyp they'd removed from her rectum.
The 47-year-old, who suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), claims she complained to doctors for five years prior due to stomach pains, nausea and blood in her stool but was never taken "seriously".
She was left feeling like a "burden" after claiming that doctors said she'd be losing weight if she had cancer and one doctor even told her she was "too fat" to have the disease while she struggled with weight gain.
However, Claire's persistence led to her having a colonoscopy that discovered the polyp, a growth of tissue they'd removed from her rectum, was cancerous.
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Doctors then discovered the mum-of-two had a bowel tumour in 2022 and she needed an emergency stoma bag fitted.
The former carer is now nervously awaiting major surgery on January 16 to hopefully reduce the risk of further cancer spreading.
The bowel cancer body checks Deborah James wanted you to know
She is urging others to "listen to their bodies" and not be afraid to ask for a second opinion rather than being "fobbed off".
Claire, who lives in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, said: "I was shocked. You can't write my life.
"On my wedding day I literally was sitting in the hairdressers that morning. I got a phone call from the doctors to tell me that they had found cancer in my polyp.
"The polyp had been removed from my body but there had been cancer in it. They said 'by the size of the polyp the possibility was the polyp itself had been growing for at least five years'.
"I thought, 'all this time of me saying there's something wrong, actually there was something wrong'.
"It was a nurse that rang me up and when I said 'I'm literally sitting in the hairdressers about to get married' she was like 'oh my god I'm so sorry, if I had known I wouldn't have told you'.
"I was a bit numb. It hadn't really sunk in. I rang him and said 'I'll see you in a few hours but guess what I've just been told'. He said 'oh my god are you alright'.
"I said 'don't worry, it's not in my body now, I don't have cancer, I had cancer'. I didn't know I had it because it was in the polyp.
"I didn't have to have any chemo or anything because it was contained and they removed it. Had they not found it, it could have spread quite quickly. That was a lucky break.
"We went to the registry office [in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire] with my children and parents. Literally straight after we went to the airport and jumped on a week away to Palma Nova, Spain.
"That week wasn't really a honeymoon. That whole time it was like s**t, I've just found out I've had cancer and I still might have it in my body somewhere and I won't know for six weeks. It played on my mind."
The mum-of-two was forced to wait six weeks for test results to reveal whether the cancer had spread and during this time flew to Sidari, Corfu, with her husband for a second wedding.
On 22 May 2019 she was relieved to be told the cancer had been contained before she was then able to enjoy a more relaxed second ceremony in a small chapel.
Matt always says our wedding anniversary is the day we legally got married but to me that was a sad day finding out I had cancer.
Claire Boulton
Claire said: "It's just insane it happened to be on both of my wedding days.
"That to me is our wedding. Matt always says our wedding anniversary is the day we legally got married but to me that was a sad day finding out I had cancer.
"To me the day I found out I didn't have it and that I was definitely all clear and stood there in my wedding dress taking that phone call, that is the day I like to celebrate. It's just insane it happened to be on both of my wedding days.
"It was just amazing and so special. I couldn't have been happier to do it any other way. It was just me and my husband and two children.
"We go back every year to the same destination. That place is our place. If the worst case happens and I don't make it out of this operation, my husband is to go there to spread my ashes there. It's just the most important place on the planet to us."
Five years before a diagnosis
While Claire regularly visited the doctors for her IBS, she claims it took her five years of complaining about severe bowel issues and stomach pains before she received her diagnosis.
She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2009, a chronic condition spreading pain all over the body, and gained four stone after it caused her to lose mobility in 2016.
Doctors argued this weight gain meant there was nothing "seriously" wrong with her bowels.
Claire said: "Things got quite bad for me in my late 30s. I would sit there on the sofa and [follow through after passing wind]. Then halfway through eating, especially meat, I'd have to go to the toilet.
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"My bowel habits were getting worse. They were liquid, I was finding blood. I'd go to the doctors and they'd say 'it's fine, it's IBS and haemorrhoids'.
"I was like 'okay, but I don't feel well. I've got stomach pains and I'm overweight'. Because of my fibro affecting my physical being I was doing a lot less physically and I was gaining weight. I'd gone from 6st to nearly 20st.
"During this whole time I just kept being told 'you're gaining weight, there's nothing serious with your bowels, if it was anything serious you'd be losing weight'.
At one point I even got told I was 'too fat for cancer'.
Claire Boulton
"At one point I even got told I was 'too fat for cancer'. When I eventually got my diagnosis I was like 'are you f**king kidding me. I got told I was too fat and now I have cancer'.
"I wanted to march into the doctors surgery and I wanted to tell that doctor what a p***k he was."
The former carer had gastric sleeve surgery in October 2020 to reduce her chance of stomach cancer followed by a full hysterectomy.
However, after feeling "unwell" in April 2022 she begged her consultant to arrange for a colonoscopy, even though she had one scheduled six months later, which revealed another tumour on her colon.
Claire said: "I felt unwell. I just didn't feel right. I'd been going to the gym and trying to get my life back on track and I just felt like there was something wrong.
"They found a tumour along the transverse colon. [The consultant] said to me at the appointment, 'if you hadn't pushed to come in when you did and listened to your body, you might not be here.'
What are the red flag warning signs of bowel cancer?
IT'S the fourth most common cancer in the UK, the second deadliest - yet bowel cancer can be cured, if you catch it early enough.
While screening is one way of ensuring early diagnosis, there are things everyone can do to reduce their risk of the deadly disease.
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes and checking with your GP can prove a life-saver.
If you notice any of the signs, don't be embarrassed and don't ignore them. Doctors are used to seeing lots of patients with bowel problems.
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
- A change in your normal toilet habits - going more frequently for example
- Pain or a lump in your tummy
- Extreme tiredness
- Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs include:
- Gripping pains in the abdomen
- Feeling bloated
- Constipation and being unable to pass wind
- Being sick
- Feeling like you need to strain - like doing a number two - but after you've been to the loo
While these are all signs to watch out for, experts warn the most serious is noticing blood in your stools.
But, they warn it can prove tricky for doctors to diagnose the disease, because in most cases these symptoms will be a sign of a less serious disease.
"I'm very much a strong believer of 'listen to yourself'. If you think there's something wrong, I don't care how many people tell you you're not, get it checked. Be 100 per cent sure.
"Make them look at you. If I'd just sat there and gone 'it's not due for six months', I realistically probably wouldn't be here today."
A few months later she had a resection to remove most of her bowel, however, was forced to have an emergency stoma bag fitted when it was unsuccessful.
Claire said: "It is hard living with a stoma. You see all these celebrities and stuff out there but they show the perfect days, not always the bad days.
"There are difficult days for all of us. But still, I'm alive. That's the thing you have to remind yourself of.
"I'll wake up some mornings and hate it. Some mornings I wake up and I'm annoyed with [the stoma]. Because it's leaked or I woke up in a bed of faeces or I walked out that day and it's leaked and it's stopped me doing something I want.
[The consultant] said to me at the appointment, 'if you hadn't pushed to come in when you did and listened to your body, you might not be here.'
Claire Boulton
"Your life changes really dramatically. I don't sleep for more than two hours a night, emptying it all the time. You find a new way. It's just another change to life.
"But at the same time it's much better than before when I wouldn't leave the house because I would have to put a sanitary towel on or because I had to wear nappies because I was faecally incontinent. At the age of 40, it wasn't normal."
The couple, who met in a nightclub on Claire's 22nd birthday, have grown 'stronger' through the ordeal and are still able to enjoy married life.
Claire said: "Everything in our life has been a challenge. And you grow stronger, and then this happened and it was like 'when am I going to get a break'.
"My husband has just been amazing. He is my rock. Nothing phases him. He's woken up covered in s**t and been like, 'never mind'. I don't know how many people could do that. It's all the little things.
"The day he married me, I was at the heaviest weight I've ever been in my whole life. He married me at the worst point in my life.
"I'd just found out I had cancer, I was the fattest I'd ever been and he chose after all those years of being with me, to marry me. I can't even put that into words how that felt that day."
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'Any change at all in your bowel...go and see a doctor'
She now wants to help spread awareness and urge others to seek tests and second opinions if they suspect something might be wrong before 'it's too late'.
Claire said: "Having bowel cancer, you're told you're too young, then too fat and everything else. There's so many of us that are young. It's just being heard.
"Any change at all in your bowel, or you're not feeling well within yourself for whatever reason that may be, go and see a doctor.
"If you get told 'it's nothing, it's nothing' and nobody's tested you, insist on tests and ask for a second opinion.
"You don't want to be a burden. That's how I felt, 'I'm a burden. I'm just fat and eat the wrong foods. There must be something wrong with me in what I'm doing, it must be my fault'.
"But if you know in your heart of hearts then you've just got to go with it. If you've got blood in your poo, stomach aches and are struggling with your bowel habits, there's something wrong, even if it's not bowel cancer.
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"Don't just get fobbed off with IBS. It's always better to find it's nothing wrong than to find out it's something and you did nothing about it and it's too late."
A spokesperson from the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board said: "We're sorry to hear of this patient's experiences and we encourage them to contact the ICB's customer services team so that it can be fully investigated."
NHS rolls out life-saving home testing for bowel cancer to over 50s
As of today (January 14) the NHS has expanded its bowel cancer screening programme to those aged 50 in England.
People aged 50 and 52 will now automatically receive a home test kit every two years by post when they become eligible, as part of plans to offer everyone 50-74 the screening test.
The test, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), looks for blood in a sample of your poo - a symptom of bowel cancer.
You collect the sample at home and send it by post to be tested.
Dame Deborah James, known as Bowelbabe was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2016 when she was 35 years old.
Before she lost her battle to cancer in 2022, she campaigned for greater awareness of the disease and encouraged people to check for signs and symptoms.
She also campaigned for the age threshold for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme to be lowered from the age of 60 to 50 years.
You’ll usually get the results of your bowel cancer screening home test (FIT kit) within 2 weeks after sending your poo sample in a letter sent to your home address.
Source: NHS
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