Charlotte Rutherford was diagnosed with cancer at 26 and again at 29 after suffering with horrific symptoms
A woman diagnosed with bowel cancer twice in her 20s revealed the horror symptoms she suffered in her health battle.
Charlotte Rutherford, now 32, was admitted to hospital because she was suffering from severe stomach pain, persistent vomiting and a complete loss of appetite. She had been experiencing symptoms on and off for roughly 18 months, but she was diagnosed after a tumour obstructed her colon and left her unable to eat, vomiting for three hours after mealtimes, and in severe pain, in 2020.
Charlotte said it wasn’t until she was in an “emergency state” that a CT scan uncovered Stage 3B bowel cancer, with the tumour obstructing her colon and having spread to her lymph nodes.
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She said: “I was told that when I went into hospital the first time in 2020 that I was maybe 48 hours away from my heart just giving up. You realise that, really, things can change so quickly – so don’t sweat the small stuff – live life how you want to live.”
Charlotte, a community manager for cancer charity Mission Remission, now based in Bristol, had been living in Australia for about three years when she was rushed to hospital as her previously intermittent symptoms — including stomach pain and vomiting — became relentless. She couldn’t eat, enduring three-hour vomiting bouts after meals and shedding “a really dramatic amount of weight”, while also noticing changes in her bowel habits – symptoms she’d been experiencing intermittently for roughly 18 months.
“At the time I went into hospital, I was so constipated. But all I can remember is the severe nausea, because, essentially, I was so blocked up and had been for a long time, it was kind of poisoning me,” said Charlotte. Charlotte underwent a CT scan which revealed a bowel obstruction requiring emergency surgery.
After examining the CT scan, doctors questioned whether Charlotte had any family history of bowel cancer. On December 11, 2020 – less than 24 hours after her hospital arrival – Charlotte was in the operating theatre having the obstruction removed for biopsy. Six days later, she received confirmation of advanced bowel cancer, with doctors estimating it had been developing for three to five years.
“I had no time to think. I was in Australia, and it was in Covid, so I was on my own in the hospital. To be honest, the thing that was going through my mind because of how unwell I felt… I just thought I was going to die in the hospital,” she said. Charlotte received a Stage 3B bowel cancer diagnosis, with the disease having spread to her lymph nodes.
Although surgeons successfully removed the large tumour and affected lymph nodes, she still needed 12 weeks of preventative chemotherapy to eliminate any remaining traces of cancer. On 6 April 2021, having completed the four rounds of chemotherapy, Charlotte was told she was in remission.
She moved to the UK in April 2021, undergoing scans and blood tests every six months as part of her ongoing monitoring. By 2023, aged 29, there had been no sign of the cancer returning, and when she attended her routine scan in February 2023, Charlotte “felt so fit and so healthy”.
Tragically, just nine days later, Charlotte was told to go back to hospital and at an appointment learned the cancer had returned in her lung, earning a stage 4 diagnosis as it had metastasized away from its original location in the bowel. She said: “We spoke about treatment options, and normally, the NHS will say that anyone who’s had a recurrence has to have another round of chemo. But I was 29 at the time, and fertility was a really big factor. I essentially had to weigh up whether it meant more to me to not have chemo and protect my fertility, or have chemo and reduce my chance of the cancer coming back.”
Due to the tumour’s small size, Charlotte was able to have it removed via keyhole surgery in April 2023. She spent two weeks on bed rest, and received the news that she was in remission once more in August 2023.
Fighting cancer twice in her late twenties has also taken a significant emotional toll on Charlotte, saying: “Because I was so young, you’re around an age group where people are progressing with other areas of their life, like buying houses and work and stuff. You just feel so behind where everyone else is, for something that is just so out of your control.”
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and Charlotte is calling on young people and healthcare professionals to remain vigilant about the warning signs of bowel cancer. The NHS lists the key symptoms as changes in your poo, blood in stools, which can make poo black or red, stomach pain, unexplained weight loss, and bloating. According to figures from Bowel Cancer UK, more than 2,500 people under the age of 50 are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK every year.
She said: “There isn’t quite that awareness still that this can happen to young people.” This April, Bowel Cancer UK and Takeda UK are shining a light on their Stage4You campaign – developed and funded by Takeda UK and supported by Bowel Cancer UK – which was created to tackle the difficulties and needs of those living with stage 4 bowel cancer.
