Laura Jackson, 39, said she did not have many symptoms of bowel cancer – including blood in her stool – and had put down her tiredness to being a working mother
A mum was diagnosed with stage-three bowel cancer after her low iron levels were flagged as she tried to donate blood.
Laura Jackson’s GP wanted to investigate further after being concerned by her low iron levels. Two positive FIT tests meant she was referred for a colonoscopy and gastroscopy in May 2025.
Other than tiredness, which she put down to being a “working put, Laura said she had not been experiencing any of the typical symptoms like blood in her stool – but did have infrequent bouts of diarrhoea up to three times in the year leading up to her referral. Doctors later found a 5cm tumour in her large intestine and confirmed she had bowel cancer, which left her needing a third of her bowel removed in a three-hour surgery in July 2025.
After her tumour was biopsied, due to the cancer showing deposits in her veins and making attempts to spread, her diagnosis was upped from stage two to three. Six weeks following her surgery in August 2025 Laura underwent four rounds of “mop up” chemotherapy for 12 weeks.
Now, she has no evidence of disease but will be under surveillance for the next five years. Laura, 39, from Southampton, Hampshire, said: “Everything kind of felt a bit surreal in that moment when the doctor told me I had a tumour.
“The first thing I thought was ‘am I going to die?’ I thought ‘oh my gosh I’ve got two babies at home, I’ve got to be there for them’.
“My husband was there with me trying to stay strong but he was crying as well. I don’t want to scaremonger but to raise awareness of the FIT test.
“It would have been left and would have spread if I’d not had it done. James van der Beek and Mel from MAFS died of bowel cancer and they were young people.
“I won’t be the only person with no symptoms that has advanced cancer.” The mum-of-two was heading to donate her rare A-negative blood in April 2025 when she was rejected at an initial screening due to low iron levels.
Two positive FIT tests saw her referred to a gastroenterologist for an investigative colonoscopy and gastroscopy. “In that time the only thing I really felt was tiredness,” Laura says. I was a working mum, only 38 and had a one and three-year-old that were still up in the night.
“Any tiredness I just disregarded. I never thought, ‘oh this is cancer’ or that it was anything serious.
“The doctor said my FIT test results were really high and he was expecting to find something, but he didn’t expect it to be cancer. When my husband arrived after my procedures the doctor came in with two nurses.
“I said ‘oh this isn’t good news’ trying to crack a joke. Nobody smiled. He said there was nothing in your stomach and your endoscopy was fine, but we found a tumour in your large intestine. It was just the most surreal out of body experience ever.”
The next day, Laura had a CT scan to determine what stage her cancer was at and then underwent bowel resection surgery on July 3, 2025.
She says the pain she experienced after surgery was “up there with childbirth” but made it her “mission” in recovery to build up her physical fitness – walking 10,000 steps a day just two weeks later.
She says she wished she had “listened to her body more” when it came to her tiredness, often taking two-hour naps during the day whilst her baby slept. Six weeks after surgery, her cancer was upped to stage three after deposits were found in her veins and outside her bowel.
“When it’s upgraded from stage two to three you need to do what they call ‘mop up’ chemo,” she said. The thought of surgery didn’t scare me, but chemo did.
“I tried to reframe it in my head that rather than chemo being the scary enemy, chemo was stopping this coming back. I had bad days but other days I felt better and I could go to the gym, go swimming or for family days out.”
Laura iced her hands and feet during her chemotherapy to help avoid any long-term neuropathy – nerve damage which can sometimes be induced by chemotherapy leading to symptoms like tingling, numbness, pain and weakness often in the hands and feet.
She says other than tiredness, the one symptom she “completely disregarded” were sudden bouts of diarrhoea. “Three times a year I’d have stomach cramps and need for a number two but nothing was happening,” she said.
“The pain was so intense and eventually I’d have frequent diarrhoea. Looking back I had a partial bowel obstruction so my body was having a meltdown trying to pass a bowel motion but the tumour was in the way.
“If that was happening every month I’d think ‘that’s odd and go to the GP but because it didn’t I just thought it was one of those things.”
After her 12-week treatment, Laura has been recovering and now shows no evidence of disease but will be under surveillance for five years before she can be classed as in remission.
Sharing her story online, Laura says her videos have encouraged other to seek out FIT tests. “My GP saved my life,” she says. “I’ve shared for awareness.
“I thought if I share my experience and someone else is going through it they might be able to see the reality is not all doom and gloom.” You can follow Laura on TikTok @itslauraunfiltered.
