Jordan F’s story

At Christmas 2024 I started having abdominal pains which I brushed off as getting too excited over festive foods. Things changed however, when a few weeks later I went to the toilet and passed a large amount of blood. I booked myself in to see my GP, where I was then sent for tests including bloods, faecal samples, ultrasound and X-rays. My GP was amazing to be fair and also referred me to see a gastroenterologist. My symptoms however escalated the following week, and I found myself leaving work and taking myself to emergency due to intense abdominal pain.

After performing a CT, I was found to have a tumour obstructing my bowel, and I was taken to surgery that evening for an emergency laparotomy and resection of my sigmoid bowel. This was just the start of what feels like a never-ending roller coaster I can’t seem to get off. Two weeks later I was told I had Stage III bowel cancer.

Now halfway through my chemotherapy treatment, I’m still unsure whether I have fully processed what has happened in the past 5 months.

I was definitely a ‘it won’t happen to me’ type of person. Naive to be fair. But what I want people to know is that it does happen, and it will completely change your world. Advocate for yourself, you know your body better than anyone.

As I keep saying to my husband; ‘The horrors persist, but so do I!’

My one piece of advice:

Advocate for yourself! You know your body better than anyone.