Millie's Story

My Millie was diagnosed with Bowel cancer in December 2020 aged just 23. She passed away just 10 short months later.

Millie had blood in her poo intermittently from about the age of 17/18, but she was secretive about it. I think she was embarrassed & scared.

When she did pluck up the courage to go the GP, she was told one of the tests she’d need was a finger up her bottom, needless to say , she was terrified & never went for the test.

Over time Millies symptoms progressed, she was backwards & forwards to the GP, & she had all the symptoms of Bowel Cancer.

Millie was never tested for Bowel Cancer, Because of her age & Her bloods were fine, she didn’t meet the NICE guidelines to be tested for Bowel Cancer.

Other explanations were being looked into, such as IBS & endometriosis.

Millie & I were told on several occasions, it wouldn’t be anything sinister, she was too young for that!

A colonoscopy was only booked for her in December 2020, but unbeknown to us, by then she already had stage 4 Bowel Cancer.

In early December 2020, Millie had an operation on her fallopian tubes, when the surgeon took a biopsy of something he’d found.

We got the results on 23/12/20, Millie had Stage 4 Bowel cancer which had spread to her liver & ovaries.

Millie had emergency surgery in January 21, & had a stoma bag fitted. She hated the stoma more than the cancer .

Millie had agressive chemo from January 21 to July 21. Her consultant then said she could have a 12 week break to enjoy her summer.

Within 3 weeks Millie had taken to her bed due to the pain she was in.

Thankfully, Millie agreed to get her pain under control & was admitted to Marie Curie Hospice in Liverpool on 26/09/21, for pain management treatment.

Sadly the cancer was so agressive, it had taken over her whole body very quickly & she passed away in my arms on 20/10/21.

Millie had no underlying health issues, she was healthy and there is no history of Bowel Cancer in the family.

Millie felt very strongly that this shouldn’t have happened to her and she didn’t want it to happen to other young adults. She wanted other young people to be aware that Bowel Cancer can happen to anybody at any age, not just the over 50’s.

Millie wanted adults her age, to be aware of the symptoms and if they have any symptoms, to feel confident in going to their GP and to be assertive in insisting they are screened for Bowel Cancer, not to be fobbed off by continually getting told ‘It’s rare in somebody your age’. She wanted GP’s to be more aware of Bowel Cancer symptoms so they can try and stop it before it’s too late.
We need to talk openly about it so our young people aren’t embarrassed about it .