A young mum who was told she was experiencing constipation due to her pregnancy was later diagnosed with cancer and said a cheap screening test kit saved her life.
Emma Campbell was pregnant with her youngest child when she felt two sharp spasms like contractions in early 2019. She was told it was pregnancy constipation.
But when the pain didn’t ease off in the months following her pregnancy, Emma decided to purchase a £39 bowel screening test she’d seen on Facebook.
The 39-year-old told the Mirror: "It 100% saved my life as it showed something wasn’t right".
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After a colonoscopy, Emma, who lives with husband Kari, 38, and kids Jensen, 10, Finlay, seven, and three-year-old Krista in Newcastle, was told she had cancer. She described it as "the worst week of my life".
Primary school teacher Emma connected with Rebecca Clarke, also 39, after searching #bowelcancer on Instagram. The mum of three had been diagnosed with stage four cancer in February 2020 so finding Rebecca, who learned she had advanced bowel cancer two weeks earlier, was a godsend.
Finance manager Rebecca, who lives in Sheffield with husband Simon, 36, and children Alfie, seven, and Evelyn, four, had decided to seek help after weeks of fatigue and changing bowel habits.
Emma said: "She became my guardian angel. I always say Becca was the best thing to come out of cancer. I was so scared and lonely those first few weeks. When I found her on Instagram, I realised I wasn’t the only young person to get bowel cancer.”
After chemo, Rebecca had part of her bowel and 19 lymph nodes removed in April 2020. That September, Emma had a section of large intestine and a tumour removed. By January 2021, after both got the all clear, the two pals started fundraising and raising awareness together. So far, they have raised £22,000 for charity.
Emma says Dame Deborah James had been a massive inspiration to them both, and she even once messaged the TV star to ask if she would get involved with a reel she was making on social media, and she did.
Rebecca said: "She was incredible. “It was really painful to see what she went through but the awareness she raised was so important for people of our age to show that it can happen. We want people to trust their gut, go to the doctor and know they are NEVER too young to get this.”
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