On 22nd February 2025, I went for a colonoscopy following blood being found in my poo. There’s nothing quite like watching the discovery of your own cancerous tumour on a 50” flat screen. It looked like something out of a horror movie, but WAY scarier. Further tests showed that I had a 4cm, stage 3 tumour just inside my rectum. Luckily for me, it had not spread to any of the surrounding organs or lymph nodes.

I underwent surgery to remove the tumour in April 2025, which meant the removal of my anus, rectum, and part of my large intestine. This left me with a permanent end colostomy and created my stoma, the fabulous diva, Miss Sally Bowels! I then had 5 and a half cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. It was supposed to be 8 cycles, but was cut short suddenly in late September 2025 when I suffered multiple pulmonary embolisms and provoked deep vein thrombosis. This caused damage to my heart, lungs and liver.

My cancer treatment caused havoc with my hormones, and I now have type 2 diabetes and have been booted well and truly into the perimenopause. Living with a stoma can be challenging and I have had to make multiple changes to my diet and lifestyle. I will have to take blood thinners indefinitely, and let’s not talk about the toll on my mental health! I’ll need to have regular scans and tests over the next few years to make sure that I don’t have any recurrence of the cancer. As it currently stands, I no longer have any active cancer cells in my body, and most of the large blood clots have broken down. The damage to my heart has completely healed, and there is just one pesky clot obstructing my liver.

I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by a huge amount of love and support from my family and friends, and I have a fantastic team of Doctors & Nurses taking care of me. The Bowel Cancer UK website has a wealth information, help and support for everyone who has been affected by Bowel Cancer. When I saw the March Knitting (and crochet!) challenge, I knew that I had to take part. I did so much crocheting during my treatment, and I’m convinced that it’s played a large part in keeping me semi sane through it all!

Bowel Cancer UK is the UK's leading bowel cancer charity and are determined to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer is the UK's second biggest cancer killer. Every 12 minutes someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer. That’s around 44,000 people every year, and 120 people every day. We're determined to change that. The funds raised from Bowel Cancer UK's March knitting challenge will help us to provide support and information to patients and their families, enable us to fund and support research into bowel cancer and allow us to campaign for early diagnosis and best treatment and care for all.

Thank you.