A mother-of-five has shared her journey through cancer treatment, which changed her life overnight. Lindsey Ellis, 41, from Y Bala in Gwynedd, thought she was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Covid for a long time before she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2022.
Colorectal cancer is also known as colon cancer and affects the colon, which consists of the large intestine and the rectum. According to the NHS, it is one of the most common cancers in Britain.
Speaking to WalesOnline, Lindsey hopes that sharing her story will encourage others experiencing similar symptoms to see their doctor. For years, Lindsey said she suffered from symptoms she thought were irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
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However, instead of going to a doctor with her symptoms, Lindsey explained that she took it upon herself to alleviate the symptoms. She said: “I had been suffering from what I thought was irritable bowel syndrome for a few years. Whenever I ate carbs – potatoes, pasta, chips, I felt like I was getting a stomachache and bloating.
“I didn’t go to the doctor because when I talked to my friends I discovered they had the same symptoms. We talked about following a gluten-free diet and that seemed to help and I was able to control the disease.” symptoms by doing things like this.
“In a way it made me think, ‘Yes, that must be it, if I can make it.’ It’s strange, they talk about the common symptoms of colon cancer, including the blood in the stool, but I would do not.” I don’t get anything like that. I just thought I had IBS.”
But when Lindsey was expecting her fifth child – her little girl Doti who was born in October 2021, her symptoms worsened. For the latest health news, sign up for our newsletter here.
She said: “I had four children before Doti, I could go on until the end and I was late with all four. But when I carried her, I had reached 35 weeks and felt like I would never make it to full term. with her.
“I felt very tired and it felt like something urgent was happening. I didn’t feel well at all. I spoke to Dion, my partner, and I said, ‘Maybe I’m just too old to be pregnant.’ , because I was 39 at the time and was having a hard time.”
Doti was born at 36 weeks old. Shortly after her birth, Lindsey and the entire family contracted Covid-19. And although the family recovered from the virus, Lindsey said she began experiencing symptoms of long Covid. She said: “The time after her birth was very difficult, Doti was only a week old.
“But after that I was very excited and we gradually came out of lockdown as well. I was excited to take her on walks and see my friends who had also had a baby around the same time. But then I felt like I didn’t have the energy, which was strange because I’m someone who likes to walk and run a lot. But I just felt like I didn’t have the energy to do anything.”
In January 2022, Lindsey said she felt “like something was wrong” and went to the doctor, where she was told she may have developed an infection after giving birth to her daughter and was given antibiotics. Lindsey said she felt better in the days that followed.
But two months later, her symptoms started getting worse, to the point where she had to lie down in the morning after eating a bowl of cereal because her stomach ache was so painful. Eventually, Lindsey said she passed out from the pain and stayed in her bed.
She said: “In March I cried to my partner and said, ‘I just don’t know what’s wrong with me, I can’t do anything.’ He told me I had to go to the doctor. I got to the point where I just didn’t know what was going on anymore, where I couldn’t control my symptoms and also where all the remedies I had for these symptoms just weren’t working.”
Lindsey had a blood test in April, but her results came back clear. A week later, Lindsey’s health deteriorated. “I couldn’t go to the bathroom,” she explained. “I had the urge to go to the toilet, but something stopped me.
“I went to the doctor, they gave me laxatives and other medicines to help me, but nothing helped. It got to the point where I hadn’t been to the toilet and my stomach was big. I was in so much pain and sometimes it felt like it was worse than the pain I had experienced during labor. By Sunday I started fainting because I was in so much pain and I stayed in bed.
The next day, Lindsey’s partner Dion decided to take her to Wrexham Maelor Hospital, where a gastrosurgeon on duty that evening took an interest in her case. Lindsey had an ultrasound and several other tests. The next morning she was told that they had discovered a tumor in her body and that they would have to operate on her that afternoon.
“Part of me still hoped it wasn’t cancer,” she said. “Although there was a chance that wasn’t the case, they told me to prepare for the worst. It was a shock, but I still expected the worst.” She added: “They told me that due to the fact that the tumor was in the rectum it meant nothing could pass through.
“They were afraid the intestine would rupture because it had not been emptied for fourteen days. The surgeon explained that they wouldn’t be able to remove the tumor – it was already inoperable, but they said they had to get rid of it. the blockage and give me a stoma bag.
“I was told that the surgeon had cleared his diary for that afternoon so he could operate on me. They were very concerned that my intestine would rupture, which could be fatal. The next thing I knew the nurse came in with a pen and I told her where the hole for the stoma bag could go. Everything happened so quickly. They said it was extremely lucky that I had gone that afternoon to get the stoma, an hour later it could have ruptured.”
Lindsey’s surgery for a temporary ostomy bag was successful. A day later, an MRI scan revealed that the tumor was cancerous and had spread to her lymph nodes and uterus. In the months that followed, Lindsey received 30 sessions of radiotherapy, followed by six cycles of chemotherapy.
In December, doctors told Lindsey that the treatment had resulted in a “complete response,” meaning the cancer and all signs of it were gone. She subsequently underwent a colonoscopy and an en bloc hysterectomy, during which her uterus was removed and a stoma repaired.
In January 2023, Lindsey received more chemotherapy sessions as cancer cells were again found in her body. But since then the mum-of-five has had no evidence of the disease and has been undergoing regular check-ups, blood tests and scans.
Despite the “amazing” news of her recovery, Lindsey said the disease has had a lasting effect on her daily life, both physically and mentally. “When I wake up, I have pins and needles in my feet, which I’ve had since chemotherapy,” she explained. “They call it neuropathy. I can’t feel my feet, but within 50 minutes the feeling comes back.
“I also have to be very careful that I know where the toilets are when I go somewhere. It does make me anxious in some situations. If I drink alcohol or too much coffee, I have to be careful. I no longer know what is normal regarding my bowel movements, and that makes me anxious. When I have three to four days of being a certain way, I start to worry that it’s back.
But the experience also taught Lindsey the fragility of life. “Nothing prepares you when you are faced with the prospect of dying,” she said. “If it was just me and I had no family, I wouldn’t have anyone to worry about. I was just terrified of leaving my children.
“And when you’ve been through that for a year, holding on to the hope that the treatment will work and that you’ll make it to the other side, it does change you. I kept telling myself, ‘when I get better’ ‘I’m not going to worry about this or about that’. When you’re in the middle of it, you think to yourself: all the little things I used to worry about were nothing.
“For example, I used to worry about keeping the house tidy, I would spend my Saturday morning cleaning the house and telling the kids to go do something. Now I wake up in the morning and tell the children that we are going for a walk along the lake or a day out. Housework can wait.
“I don’t worry the same way anymore. If I don’t want to do something, I’m now more willing to say no. I have a ‘can do’ mentality: if I want to do something, I’ll do it, as long as My bank balance can keep up with it all. It has made me realize how much my family and friends have supported me so much that I couldn’t have done this without them.”
Lindsey hopes her experience will encourage others to speak openly about their health. In recent years, the discussion about bowel habits, knowing the symptoms of colon cancer and the need to talk to your doctor if you have any concerns has gained increasing attention, thanks largely to the work of people like the late writer and journalist Deborah James.
According to Bowel Cancer UK, the charity has seen an increase in the number of people waiting for bowel screenings since the death of Deborah James in June 2022. According to Lindsey, the conversation about bowel movements is “getting better,” but she hopes more people will advocate for their health when they feel like something isn’t right.
“I think the conversations are getting better,” she said. “The reason I didn’t go to the doctor in the first place was because I didn’t want to talk about bowels and stuff. We feel like it’s all a bit disgusting. I thought to myself, ‘I want to’ If I don’t want to, I’ll arrange it myself’.
“But obviously it would have been much better if I had gone to the doctors from the very beginning. There are so many causes and symptoms of colon cancer. Even if you think you have IBS, it’s worth going to the doctor just for that confirmation and the help you need.”