Exclusive: When Rebecca McMahon began struggling with again ache she went to her GP.
But the 39-year-old mother-of-two was informed she ought to already know what to do about it due to her job as a physiotherapist.
“The story was always, ‘oh you’re a physio you should know what to do,’ she told 9news.com.au.
“They’d reassure me it is going to finally go away.”
She also started suffering from bloating and abdominal cramps.
Even when she returned to her GP she claims she wasn’t taken seriously.
“They would say, ‘oh it does not appear like you have acquired again ache as a result of your posture is so good’,“ McMahon said.
“I got here to the conclusion that nobody was going to assist me. That was fairly miserable.”
Then her world changed when McMahon fainted while she was at the park with her children Lyra, 11, and Felix, 9.
She fainted again getting into the car when her partner, Sam, rushed to pick her up.
That night, she noticed blood in her stools and went to the hospital emergency department.
The doctors said her symptoms could be anything from hemorrhoids to a virus or stomach ulcer.
It was around two years after she had started suffering from that backache but no doctor had ever linked her symptoms or sent her for tests.
“On the one hand it was very stunning however alternatively it was really fairly validating,” she said.
“All the signs I knew as much as that time it appeared they needed to be resulting in one thing main.”
McMahon had surgery in May 2021.
Sadly, the tumour was found to have spread to her stomach and pancreas, making it stage four and incurable.
Despite chemotherapy and another major surgery the cancer has spread to her liver and lungs.
She’s now hoping to take part in an experimental immunotherapy trial which she hope will give her as long a life as possible.
McMahon wants to spread the message that bowel cancer can happen to younger people like her.
In fact one in ten new bowel cancer cases in Australia are now in people under 50.
It’s the deadliest cancer and the sixth leading cause of death overall for Australians aged 25-44.
“Most of the docs will say, ‘oh however you are too younger to have that’. I believe we actually want to lift consciousness amongst GP that the age is definitely shifting youthful,” she said.
Meanwhile, McMahon said she copes with her terminal diagnosis by performing aerial circus tricks.
She got into the hobby through a friend and now runs her own company on the side.
“I believe that one of many primary methods I cope is thru circus,” she said.
“I’m very fortunate I’ve acquired this lifelong ardour that I can now faucet into as a supply of inspiration.
“It’s kept me thinking about something other than cancer.”
‘No one ought to ever be informed they’re too younger to get bowel most cancers’
Julien Wiggins, CEO of Bowel Cancer Australia stated analysis reveals the illness is rising amongst beneath 50s.
The charity has been campaigning for the screening age to be lowered from 50 to 45.
“No one should ever be told they are too young to get bowel cancer,” Wiggins stated.
“All major US medical guidelines endorse average-risk bowel cancer screening from age 45.”
A federal authorities spokesman stated the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program targets folks aged 50-74 as they might be most susceptible to growing bowel most cancers
“The Program is based on the best available clinical evidence at a population level and is underpinned by the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention, Early Detection and Management of Colorectal Cancer.
“The Program and the underpinning Guidelines are commonly reviewed with the newest assessment because of be accomplished later this 12 months.
“The review is considering the appropriateness of screening age.”
The spokesperson added youthful folks can purchase screening kits on-line and at pharmacies and may ask a healthcare supplier who could supply screening lined by Medicare.
Bowel most cancers is Australia’s second deadliest general most cancers general, after lung most cancers.
Almost 1700 individuals are recognized yearly
Bowel Cancer Australia has been campaigning for the federal authorities to decrease the nationwide bowel most cancers screening age from 50 to 45 since 2018 as a result of rising charges of youthful folks being recognized.
Free take a look at kits are despatched to folks aged 50-74 as a part of the scheme.
Blood in stools, unexplained weight reduction, stomach ache, unexplained anaemia and protracted change in bowel habits can all be indicators.
