Young people get it too, warns Cork woman diagnosed with bowel cancer

Emma Crowley says people should get any troubling symptoms checked out warning they will not go away of their own accord

Emma Crowley (with fellow cancer survivor Michael Healy) is using National Cancer Survivors' Day today to ask members of the public to get themselves checked out if they notice any troubling symptoms. Picture:  Gerard McCarthy 

A woman who developed bowel cancer in her 30s, and was diagnosed shortly after the death of her mother from pancreatic cancer, is urging the public not to view certain forms of cancer as “something that only happens to the elderly”. 

Emma Crowley from Model Farm Road in Cork is using National Cancer Survivors' Day today to ask members of the public to get themselves checked out if they notice any troubling symptoms.

She warns people not to assume that the symptoms will go away of their own accord.

Emma was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2013 at the age of 39 not long after the passing of her beloved mother Joan.

She was stressed following the diagnosis of her mother with cancer and attributed her symptoms to the upheaval.

Emma, who is a huge tennis enthusiast and a Captain at Sunday's Well Tennis Club in Cork city, was shocked to be told she had bowel cancer.

“I was diagnosed in 2013 with Stage three hereditary bowel cancer 10 weeks after my mum passed away," Ms Crowley said. "I had ignored all the symptoms."

In 2012 I had started on a health regime to get fitter; at Christmas 2012 I was having problems when I was eating but I put it down to rich food and drinking.

"Both mum and I were sick at the time but neither of us knew. In February 2013 mum was diagnosed with her pancreatic cancer and given six months.

"In June I was at my new GP and I admitted I was bleeding when I went to the bathroom. She (the GP) wanted to do a colonoscopy urgently but I said no with Mum being so ill.

"In September 2013 I went back to work I was getting sicker and sicker. I was putting it down to stress. When I got diagnosed it was very hard on my Dad because we had just lost Mum.” 

Emma said she went from sadness at the passing of her mother to having to face into chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

She underwent several years of gruelling treatment for bowel cancer.

In April 2015 Emma, who received great support from family, medics, and work, was diagnosed with secondaries in the lungs.

Thus followed her having to wear her chemotherapy portacath at home for 48 hours at a time.

It was aggressive chemo. You would go in for a full day and then come out wearing it for another 48 hours. It was like three days of chemo.

Emma had her last chemo session in August 2017 having started treatment in August 2013.

“We are just keeping an eye on my cancer-related bloods. My monitoring is excellent," Ms Crowley said.

"There is always the 'what if?' — you don’t know what is ahead. 

"But I am back playing tennis. I had given away my rackets but I was happy to buy new ones. I never thought I would be playing again.” 

Emma is urging members of the public to go to their GP if they have any symptoms of bowel cancer.

“It is not a disease for older people. Unfortunately it is for everyone. The amount of 20 to 30-year-olds diagnosed is scary. The longer you ignore it the bigger your tumour gets. Young people do get bowel cancer.

"My symptoms were bleeding, fatigue, anything I ate and drank gave me digestive issues. I was going to the bathroom a lot."

When I was told I was bowel cancer I said 'Are you sure?' — I thought it was all stress.

Meanwhile, today on National Cancer Survivors Day, Breakthrough Cancer Research has created a symbolic 33rd county in Ireland called Co Saolfada — country of survivors.

It will represent and celebrate a population that has survived and lived longer thanks to scientific innovation and cancer research.

Almost 45,000 people are diagnosed annually with cancer in Ireland, and there are approximately 200,000 survivors or people living with cancer nationwide today (NCRI). Sadly, 9,000 still die from the disease each year.