“I found out I had bowel cancer at 8 months pregnant”
Pre diagnosis
Nikki, now aged 36 from Oxfordshire, was living a typical ‘normal’ family life with her then four year old son, Reggie (now aged seven) whilst working as a Community Mental Health Support Worker. She enjoyed going out with friends, visiting National Trust sites with Reggie and was balancing life with her job which she also enjoyed.
Symptoms
Nikki fell pregnant with Connie aged 33 in May 2021 but just like her pregnancy with Reggie, soon experienced the crippling symptoms of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) – extreme sickness and vomiting in pregnancy resulting in rapid weight loss with frequent admissions to hospital to be connected to a drip via a cannula for rehydration and intravenous medication to try to stop the vomiting cycle. She remembers feeling incredibly dehydrated and exhausted but put it all down to the pregnancy. She couldn’t keep water down and was living on a diet of Lucozade Sport and multiple anti-sickness tablets which sadly weren’t working.
Her HG lessened with her son Reggie after the first trimester, but continued with her second pregnancy well into the second trimester. At her 20 week scan, she found out she was having a girl and put the sickness and exhaustion down to being pregnant with a girl as her pregnancy did feel very different from her son’s.
“I put my exhaustion, sickness and diarrhoea down to being pregnant with a baby girl”
After five months of relentless HG, her bowel habits suddenly changed, and she soon started experiencing severe diarrhoea, leading to further dehydration and exhaustion and involved her constantly running to the toilet. Again, she put it down to the pregnancy hormones, the drips she was on for HG and also the sickness medication. At six months pregnant, she called the GP to explain she could just not go on any more but was reassured this should pass as the pregnancy progressed.
However, she then experienced severe pain at home and was taken to the John Radcliffe hospital in an ambulance, where they examined her and gave her an ultrasound on her kidneys because she kept getting kidney infections and the medical team wanted to explore this.
The lady doing the scan said she could see something on the corner of the screen that she wasn’t too sure about and she was going to get a colleague for a second opinion. That is when it was confirmed that a mass had been spotted on the ultrasound scan and it needed further investigation.
Nikki comments on this moment: “I couldn’t have a CT scan as I was pregnant but I was sent for an MRI and that is when the gastroenterology team confirmed that there was a mass in my bowel. I was then sent for a colonoscopy (a camera examination of the bowel) and had a scan during the procedure to check the baby was all OK during it.
“I was just focused on keeping my baby safe”
“As I was pregnant, I couldn’t have any sedation which is typically taken for a colonoscopy and as it was during Covid I couldn’t have any family there. So it was very isolating and tough physically but I was just focused on keeping my baby safe.
“A biopsy was carried out on the mass and I was called in to discuss the results. In December 2021, I went to meet the Maternity team and that is when I was told I had bowel cancer and I needed to deliver my baby, who I named Connie, as quickly as possible. I don’t actually remember taking it in when I was told I had cancer. I was so focused on getting Connie out safely that I buried it and decided I would face everything else after she was born and was safe.
“I had an induction on 21 December at 36 weeks pregnant, a month before Connie was due in January. She was born naturally without an epidural, after a long but straight forward labour weighing just under 6lbs.
“I met with my Consultant and Occtopus Trustee, Kat Baker and she confirmed that surgery to remove the tumour would take place on 17 January 2022 to allow my body time to recover from the birth and to allow me to spend some time (albeit so short) with little Connie and my family.
Treatment
“However, on Christmas Day 2021, 4 days after the birth. I started to get blood in my poo and felt very unwell and wasn’t recovering. I went to the John Radcliffe Hospital on 02 January 2022 explaining that something wasn’t right. Then, my bowel perforated in the hospital and everything suddenly became an emergency. That was horrendous, I really thought I wasn’t going to make it.
“The tumour was quickly removed via open surgery and I was sent to the ward to recover, then had another wash out of the bowel and a stoma inserted two days later. My wound got infected so I needed treatment for that with a Vac dressing and I needed physio to get me out of bed. I remember having a central line in my neck, being fed and given medication through it, meaning I couldn’t feed Connie myself and holding her was uncomfortable which was so very tough.
“I told my son Reggie that I had a naughty ball in my belly”
“I told my son Reggie that I had a naughty ball in my belly and it needed to come out. The stoma nurses at OUH helped me explain everything to Reggie and even gave him a stoma teddy, they really were amazing but it was so hard explaining everything to my son without scaring him. Especially, as he would often go to bed with mummy at home and wake up and I wasn’t there as I was having more treatment.
“I left the hospital on 17 January 2022 and went to my mum’s house to recover. I had 75 lymph nodes removed and the medical team was worried that the cancer had spread after the perforation, which typically can happen, but it was confirmed it hadn’t spread. I started preventative chemo on my birthday in February for three months in Banbury, all whilst navigating being a new mother again. Luckily, I had no horrendous side effects from the infusions and tablets but mentally, the juggle was incredibly tough.
“My amazing Dad was a massive part of my support system, helping look after the kids whilst I was in hospital. When I was given the news that my bloods were stable in June 2023, we were told the devastating news that he had up to three months to live following a very quick diagnosis of cancer returning. In the end, sadly we had only 17 days together and I miss him and his support terribly.
“Despite everything going on in my world, I celebrated the end of chemo with a family celebration at Avon Dasset hills in Warwickshire and later a Cancer Free Party! I had my stoma reversal in June, carried out by the amazing Kat Baker via keyhole surgery and I am now stoma free.
Life now
“I went back to work in November when my not so traditional maternity leave ended, which was totally overshadowed by my diagnosis and treatment. No newborn bubble or baby groups for me! My family and I continue to raise awareness and partake in events such as Race for Life every year to support those going through it.
“But I feel incredibly lucky that the cancer was found later on in my pregnancy meaning Connie is here safely. She is my miracle child and helped speed up my diagnosis journey.
“I am currently on surveillance treatment and got a ‘Lucky’ tattoo after 2.5 years of surveillance which involves yearly scans and six monthly blood tests.
“My advice to everyone would be to talk openly about poo and not to be uncomfortable talking about it. It is a very normal thing but any changes should be spoken about.
“I never take anything for granted, appreciate the small things, try to enjoy everyday and believe everything happens for a reason. My advice to anyone else who isn’t feeling right or who has a family history of bowel cancer is to request for a colonoscopy and don’t be embarrassed or afraid to state what you want. If you have a concern, push for it to be seen. I truly believe Connie saved my life and want to look at that time as a positive moment in time rather than the harrowing experience that it was, robbing me of a ‘normal’ newborn experience.”