A mum was told she could have months left to live after complaining of pain in her side.
Ros Atkins, from Gateacre, was on holiday with her husband John, 42, and their daughter Maggie, six, in Scotland when she first started experiencing pain in the right side of her body which felt like a stitch. The 43-year-old said she thought she might have pulled a muscle while sleeping in different hotel beds at the time, but when the pain got worse on returning home she booked an appointment to see her GP.
Ros said: "I can only describe it as like a stitch in the right hand side. It started to be quite painful when I took a full intake of breath, that's the only way I can describe it really."
READ MORE: Red flag bowel cancer symptoms that led to Deborah James' diagnosis
After going to see her GP, who believed she could have a blood clot in her lung, Ros was told to go to hospital immediately. The results of a chest scan showed a dark shadow on Ros's liver and she was sent for an MRI scan which found secondary cancerous cells on her liver.
Ros said: "That was a secondary cancer and they knew that they needed to find a primary source of cancer, so after that I can't even tell you how many different types of scans I went for."
Following a colonoscopy at St Helens Hospital, Ros was diagnosed with stage four terminal bowel cancer and told secondary cancer cells had also spread to her liver and lymph nodes. It was at this time Ros was told the devastating news at Whiston Hospital she had between 18 months and five years to live.
Ros said: "The surgeons at that point didn't feel like it was safe enough to do surgery just because of where the tumour was. It took a long time for us to get our heads around.
"I think I actually managed to kind of come to terms with it sooner than my husband, he really struggled with it and found those next few days after that incredibly difficult. I didn't accept at the age of 43 with a six year old daughter I have got that little time left on earth so we have got to find something what are we going to do?
"I had to go into 'business mode' to be able to get through what I'd been told.
"Some days that's worked and I can stay in that business brain place and other days are what I call dark days, where I can't think about anything else other than that and my family and friends who I will be leaving behind. But my daughter, that's massive - and that's the thing I struggle with the most."
Ros said she didn't experience any of the typical symptoms of bowel cancer due to where the tumour was positioned on the lining of her bowel. She has shared her story to raise awareness of the importance of going to the doctors and getting anything that feels out of the ordinary checked out.
The mum started her first round of chemotherapy at the Lilac Centre at St Helens Hospital at the end of October last year but five days later she had to undergo emergency surgery after her bowel ruptured.
Ros resumed chemotherapy in December but was later told it had been unsuccessful. Ros has now started a different course of chemotherapy and is determined to try every option available to her in order to prolong her life.
Ros said her main source of inspiration since her diagnosis has been Deborah James, known online as Bowel Babe, who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and increase understanding of bowel cancer since being diagnosed in 2016. Ros said: "She is amazing in terms of raising money and awareness for bowel cancer and her philosophy is carrying on with 'rebellious hope' - and I think that's what it is I've got, some kind of rebellious hope that something is going to work and something is going to happen for me because I feel like not being here isn't an option."
Ros's friends are doing the Wirral Coastal Walk on Sunday, May 22, with all funds raised going to the Bowel Babe fund for Cancer Research UK. They have set up a fundraising page for the charity which is raising money to fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
Best friend Matt Jones is also helping Ros to raise awareness by standing on one leg during his stand up comedy gigs. Matt said: "If I can embarrass myself standing on one leg in front of 250 people then basically anyone can spare a few minutes to embarrass themselves getting themselves checked out for bowel cancer - and being embarrassed for a few minutes can save your life."
If you would like to donate to the fundraising page for Bowel Babe click here.
