Courtney D’s story

In May 2025 at the age of 29, I had a colonoscopy due to having some blood in my stool. I was young and fit, training CrossFit 4-5 times a week, in the best shape of my life and eating well. The blood was very minimal and hardly noticeable, but I flagged it with my GP who sent me off for blood and stool tests. All the blood and stool tests came back fine, except for one level of calprotectin which was about three times the level it should be. Both the GP and Gastroenterologist suspected an inflammation in my bowel from something like IBS or a food intolerance.

On 14th May 2025, my colonoscopy revealed a tumour in my sigmoid colon that they were 99% sure was cancer. Biopsies confirmed this, and after further scans (CT and PET) and a lung biopsy, it was determined that the cancer had already spread to my lungs and I was Stage IV from the start.

I underwent 6 rounds of chemo from July-September 2025 and was discussing further treatment options after the chemo only kept everything stable and did not shrink either the lung metastases or primary tumour. On 4th October 2025 after having a persistent headache for 5 days, I presented to the Emergency Department for a CT scan under advice from my Oncologist.

The CT scan revealed a 2.3cm x 2.6cm tumour in my left cerebellum. I was transferred hospitals to be under a specialist neurosurgeon team and on 6th October, had an emergency craniotomy to remove the tumour. This was followed up in the following weeks with some “clean-up” radiation and after scans revealed all cancer was gone from my brain. On December 3rd 2025, I underwent a Robotic Assisted Anterior Resection + Flexible Sigmoidoscopy to remove 30cm of bowel containing my primary tumour. This was in hopes of doing radiation on my three lung metastases and avoiding further chemotherapy for now.

Unfortunately, in February 2026, whilst undergoing mapping scans for radiation, they discovered that my metastases had grown to seven and I was no longer eligible for radiation. Further scans revealed this number to be nine metastases along with a new liver metastasis. I was now looking at stage IV bowel cancer with spread to 3 other organs.

In March 2026, I began a new routine of chemotherapy. The first two rounds of chemotherapy were rough, causing severe 10/10 pain in my chest which had me hospitalised for three nights then six nights. It was found to be caused by nerve toxicity in my chest. We skipped a cycle with the drug we suspected was causing the issue, then continued at 30% dose which has so far not affected me as badly.

Scans and tests in early June 2026 showed no reoccurrence in bowel or brain, stable or slightly shrinking metastases in the lungs and metabolically ‘asleep’ and shrinking metastases in my liver.

I had another round of chemotherapy shortly after this and have now been given clearance to travel to Europe for seven weeks with chemotherapy tablets to make memories with my incredible partner and watch some of our best friends get married.

My fight is long from over and chemo for life is likely the outcome for me, but I have continued to stay active, work full time (except when recovering from brain surgery) and make memories with my family and friends who have lifted me up and made this heavy load easier to carry at 30 years old.

My one piece of advice:

My advice for anyone experiencing this is to trust yourself, listen to your body, speak to your doctors when something doesn’t feel right and advocate for yourself if you’re not getting the answers you need. You know your body better than anyone else and you’re never too young to go through this.