A woman has shared the “embarrassing” symptoms of a deadly disease she initially ignored prior to her life-changing diagnosis, urging others to “speak to your doctor”. Lindsey Jayn Piette from Ontario in Canada experienced issues such as irregular bowel movements and bloating but initially did nothing about them.
Taking to social media platform TikTok, the single mum said she put off seeking help for “too long”, eventually being diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer – which is also known as bowel cancer – at the age of 39.
In a video about her symptoms, Lindsey said: “Warning signs I had cancer that I missed.
Ask your doctor for a colonoscopy even if you think you’re too young to worry.”
Some of the symptoms included bloating, irregular bowel movements, stomach pain and constipation.
“These topics are often embarrassing to talk about but getting help can save your life,” Lindsey added.
In an earlier video she detailed her symptoms again, saying: “Please speak to your doctor and get tested if you need to. I put it off for too long.
“Symptoms I ignored that were actually stage three colorectal cancer.” These signs were:
- Irregular bowel movements
- Crazy bloating and gas and not being able to pin down what caused it
- No bowel movements for three to four plus days sometimes
- Fatigue and lower back pain
- Very small amounts of blood on the toilet paper occasionally
- Stomach pain very often and painful bowel movements.
Lindsey had been due to undergo a colonoscopy at the age of 35 because she had a family history of the disease.
However, due to logistics she wasn’t able to attend her appointment and had to cancel.
Later, in April 2021 she finally had the colonoscopy, which is where doctors discovered a five-centimetre tumour.
She underwent intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was told the tumour was gone in January 2022.
However in July 2023 she learnt that the tumour had returned and she had surgery in August.
Luckily, a year on the cancer hasn’t returned, Lindsey said: “One year ago my life was saved by a major cancer surgery.”
In another video talking about the mental health side of her journey, she called it a “traumatic experience” and commented: “One thing that’s almost harder than fighting cancer is dealing with the emotional aftermath of it, and not having anybody to talk to about it makes it 100 times worse.”
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in the UK, accounting for around 44,000 new diagnoses every year.
The NHS lists symptoms of bowel cancer as:
- Changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
- Needing to poo more or less often than usual for you
- Blood in your poo, which may look red or black
- Bleeding from your bottom
- Often feeling like you need to poo, even if you’ve just been to the toilet
- Tummy pain
- A lump in your tummy
- Bloating
- Losing weight without trying
- Feeling very tired for no reason.
If you experience any signs of the disease you should speak to your GP.
