Taryn B’s story

I have had digestive issues on and off over the years but nothing too concerning until August 2025 when I started noticing occasional blood in my stool. Alarm bells went off inside me, and I immediately booked into my GP who referred me for ultrasounds, stool tests and blood tests.

Nothing alarming came up, but given my history of digestive complaints, he wanted me to get a colonoscopy to investigate further.

Three months later my symptoms had mostly disappeared, but I went ahead with my colonoscopy anyway.

When I woke from the procedure, my gastroenterologist told me she had seen 24 polyps but couldn’t remove them all, and one in particular looked malignant. I was also given a diagnosis of Serrated Polyposis Syndrome. It felt like my world had been flipped upside down. I was 39 years old with no family history of bowel cancer.

That afternoon I had a CT scan and the next 24 hours felt like a nightmare while I waited for results. Thankfully it showed no sign of organ spread.

One week later I had a resection on my sigmoid colon, and after a further agonising week waiting on histology, it was confirmed the cancer was Stage 1 and no further treatment was needed.

I’m now 3 months post op and feeling better every day. I have some new struggles with digestive function, lingering numbness over my abdomen but have a great team of health professionals in my corner and most importantly I’m alive.

I have 3-year-old twin boys and a loving partner, and knowing I have many more years with them makes me grateful every single day. I will need colonoscopies every year, but it is a small price to pay.

My one piece of advice:

I would urge anyone to please not ignore your symptoms, no matter your age or history. Early diagnosis is crucial to surviving this disease.