Kila’s story

I was working overseas in the Middle East when a GP finally had me do some blood tests in response to abdominal pain in January 2025, after about a year and a half of other GPs assuming similar symptoms were IBS or just adjusting to living in new places with new kinds of bacteria present. An astronomical inflammation indicator had her sending me straight to the emergency room, where tests revealed a malignant tumour in my colon and a perforation in my bowel. Surgery revealed a massive infection in my abdominal cavity, preventing a resection and resulting in a temporary colostomy while the infection was drained and treated with a range of antibiotics. I’m so grateful for my wonderful team of doctors in Jordan, for finding and so quickly taking the necessary steps to get me to a place where we could start treating the cancer.

I came back to Australia for chemo and further surgery, where subsequent tests staged the cancer at Stage 3b/c and revealed I have endometriosis as well, complicating the pathology. I’m still in the midst of it, with a lot of uncertainty remaining about the future. But I’ve also felt very lucky to handle the chemo well so far, and (mostly!) staying positive with a healthy dose of both black humour and just plain old poop jokes! I’m also so grateful for my wonderful community of support, most importantly my husband and my mum who have been by my side at every appointment, but also family, friends and colleagues across the world sending good vibes, care packages (and distracting memes)!

My one piece of advice:

I would say ask the question of your doctors “what else could it be?” and push for scans, blood tests or whatever you can to get the best diagnosis possible! We need GPs to subscribe to the never too young mindset, particularly with the increasing rates of diagnosis in younger patients. And if you do receive a bowel cancer diagnosis, take it a step at a time – worrying too much about future possibilities means either stressing unnecessarily or stressing twice when you could have just done it once!