A YOUNG mum who went into routine surgery to have her appendix removed woke up to a devastating diagnosis that changed her life “forever”.
Susan Collins, 33, thought the simple procedure would put an end to her pain, but was shocked when doctors told her they had made a discovery.
The mum-of-three was left gobsmacked when doctors told her she had stage three bowel cancer – and she started chemotherapy just two weeks later.
Still shocked by the find to this day, Susan told the Irish Sun: “I never had any bowel issues. Absolutely none. No signs, no nothing.”
“Our lives changed forever. I woke up from surgery to devastating news. Things hadn’t gone as planned.
“And not only did I wake up with a temporary stoma but my team also confirmed I have stage three bowel cancer.”
Susan, from Kildare, had experienced sharp pain in her side on occasion, which doctors eventually diagnosed as appendicitis.
She said: “This pain in the side, it was like a shooting pain, nearly like a cramping.
“Sometimes it would feel like a spasming pain. I would have said it was like a contraction nearly in childbirth.”
And last summer, Susan experienced the same sharp pain at a family celebration and decided to go to the doctors.
Susan, mum to 10-year-old Brody, Jamie, seven, and four-year-old Mason, said: “I went over to the GP out of hours and they thought originally it was a colon infection.
“So I was on antibiotics for a few weeks for that and some gut tablets and everything settled down.”
However, the pain returned in October and Susan went to see another GP.
She recalled: “He gave me a laxative in case there was a blockage of my bowel.
“So he was the only one that ever thought it may have been something to do with my bowel.
“We did stool samples, blood tests and he had me booked in for an MRI.
“But things really escalated pain-wise and my dad had to bring me down to A&E.”
Things escalated quickly with Susan getting sicker and undergoing more hospital admissions and tests – but there was still no indication of cancer.
Susan said: “I had a temperature and had infection markers in my blood.
“But I had nothing, no disturbances. I’ve never, still to this day, well obviously I have a stoma now, but up until my surgery, I never had any bowel issues. Absolutely none. No signs, no nothing.”
She continued: “It’s kind of all a blur. I had four or five hospital admissions and they were all to do with my appendix.
“My appendix was inflamed and they said there was what they call an appendicular mass.
“Basically that’s where your body is trying to protect.
“It’s like a fatty tissue protecting the infection in one area so it doesn’t spread. It’s a really common occurrence.”
SHOCK SURGERY DISCOVERY
Susan was given more antibiotics but found herself returning back to the hospital.
She continued: “So December 3 I went in, had keyhole surgery and I woke back up and they said ‘you still have your appendix’.”
Doctors told Susan her appendix had merged onto her bowel and she would need further surgery.
Scheduled to meet a new surgeon in February, Susan found herself with a temperature and in “absolute agony” just days before her appointment.
She admitted herself to hospital again while experiencing pain like never before.
The Newbridge native said: “I actually said to him, ‘I’m in that much pain now that I think this appendix has ruptured’.
“So in fairness, they were amazing. I was brought straight through. And again, they were saying appendix, appendix.
“I met the colorectal surgeon and he said that they’d have to perform a surgery where they remove parts of my bowel.”
Susan underwent more MRIs, CTs, colonoscopies and “still nothing came up” regarding her bowels.
She now knows that she did at the time have appendicitis, along with the cancer, which caused the infection markers and the temperatures.
She said: “On February 13, I went for surgery and it was only when they opened me up that they saw the tumour.
“So it’s on my back wall on that main artery, which is why they couldn’t touch it basically.”
Medics carried out biopsies straight away and gave her a stoma to “protect” the bowel during chemo.
Susan said she was floored to realise she had cancer, recalling: “I woke up from that surgery and thought the worst because I got a stoma.
“I thought ‘this is the end of my world, this is awful’.
“It was only the next morning that I was told, ‘actually, you have cancer’.
“I was told that by myself, lying in a hospital bed 12 hours after surgery.”
After the shock diagnosis, doctors arranged for her to start chemo two weeks later which was “really rough” for Susan and her family – husband Daryl and their three young boys.
TREATMENT PLAN
Susan admitted: “The first round was really rough because they don’t know how your body’s going to react.
“So I was very sick that first weekend. But after that, I haven’t been sick because I’m on really good anti sickness [medication] now.
“For the kids, it’s like the first week was really rough for them because obviously I was very sick. I was in bed.
“But after that, they are flying it because I’m flying it.”
Now into week seven of chemo, Susan has noticed her body is “getting weaker” but that her team are “extremely positive” about her progress.
She said: “I’ve lost an extreme amount of weight. And they’ve added on two extra cycles of chemo while we’re waiting for surgery and MRIs and everything.
“It is working, it has shrunk and they’re still extremely positive.”
The stay-at-home mum, who was made redundant during the pandemic, told how the cost of travelling to chemo and hospital appointments adds up for everyone going through cancer treatment.
Susan said: “Unfortunately we are a one-income family at the minute.
“I literally get the minimum on illness benefits because my husband has a good job, but it still doesn’t cut it.”
Undergoing another MRI in two weeks, doctors plan to remove what’s left of the tumour along with her appendix.
Susan, who is documenting her journey on her Susans_Next_Chapter TikTok, is urging everyone to listen to their body.
She said: “I would have been heavily medicated when I’d be in hospital.
“But once the infection markers would go down, my pain would go away and this would all settle.
“So I’d have weeks in between. No signs of my bowel. No signs of my appendix. It’s very rare indicators.”
SYMPTOMS TO WATCH
Not everyone will get every symptom, or get symptoms in any particular order:
- Changes in your poo for no reason that last longer than three weeks, such as having constipation, diarrhoea or both
- The feeling of not emptying your bowel completely after a bowel movement
- Needing to poo more or less often than usual
- Blood in your poo, which may look red or black
- Bleeding from your bottom
- Tummy pain
- Feeling a lump anywhere in your tummy
- Bloating
- Losing weight for no reason
- Feeling very tired for no reason
- Breathlessness.
These symptoms can be caused by conditions other than cancer, but it’s important to listen to your body and get any changes checked.
She added: “Bowel cancer was known as an old man’s disease.
“Now it’s any gender and at any age. And it’s scary because there’s no there’s no way to prevent it because they don’t know why it’s happening.”
Now on a mission to help others and create awareness, Susan discussed the importance for anyone with a diagnosis to ask for help.
IMPORTANT ADVICE
She said: “I have a young onset team and they are just amazing.
“Everyone gets a speciality nurse with oncology and they are on the other end of the phone all of the time.
“I would say reach out to them because my first round of chemo I thought ‘I meant to be this sick. I’m fine’. And I shouldn’t have been.
“So if you’re feeling unwell, reach out to them and lean on friends and family.
“I am a mother who does it all. To my own detriment, I don’t like asking for help. I have all the help around me. But this taught me you have to ask for help.
“Let people do stuff for you, take on that help and lean on people. Which I wouldn’t have been great at doing. I’m still trying.”
With thousands of likes on her inspiring videos, brave Susan hopes to teach others to recognise the signs.
She added: “Watch out for all of the signs, we shouldn’t have abnormalities in our bodies.
“Go to the GP and be seen. I think especially as mothers, we’re more likely to think ‘oh, I’ll go in a few weeks’. But if that was your child, you’d be straight to the GP.”
