When I was 25, I was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. I developed a telltale symptom, but I didn’t think anything about it

When Ellie Wilcock suddenly felt pain in her abdomen, she assumed it was a urinary tract infection (UTI).

After all, it was something the then 25-year-old had experienced before.

But the real cause was a cancerous tumor that kills almost 17,000 Britons every year.

Ellie, now 27, from Peterborough, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer – the most serious form of the disease.

Bowel cancer, the fourth most common cancer in Britain, is the same type of cancer that killed Dame Deborah James in 2022 at the age of 40.

The content manager’s illness started with “extreme pain” in her abdomen, a classic symptom of the disease.

But at the time she thought ‘nothing of it’ and suspected it was just a urinary tract infection.

But when the pain got worse, she decided to seek help from her doctor.

Tests for a urinary tract infection were negative, but blood tests done around the same time showed signs of inflammation.

Such symptoms can indicate cancer, but also other possible diseases and conditions.

Ellie was then booked for an ultrasound scan, but the pain quickly worsened, forcing her to seek help through A&E.

Scans performed there discovered an unknown mass in her abdomen.

Medics at the time suspected it could be an ovarian cyst or some other condition.

It wasn’t until a biopsy was performed that the devastating truth was revealed.

Tests showed the disease had spread to her liver, ovaries and peritoneum – the membrane that holds organs in the abdomen.

Ellie, who was diagnosed in February 2022, remembers being in disbelief and never thinking the problem could be caused by cancer at such a young age.

She recalls how, amid this confusion, Dame Deborah, dubbed the ‘Bowelbabe’ for her work to raise awareness of the disease, was a source of comfort and hope.

“I remember being in the middle of my treatment and following Deborah’s story,” she said.

‘Cancer felt to me like a new and scary world in which my head was immersed.

‘It was scary and unfamiliar to me, full of doctors, hospital gowns and a cocktail of tests and drugs.’

‘It was Deborah who made this whole ‘new world’ feel human. Deborah was proof to me that you can really live with cancer.

“She was this beacon of hope that was truly empowering and inspiring, this positivity continues to shine with her legacy.”

Ellie underwent multiple surgeries to remove her cancer, as well as grueling chemotherapy treatments, but in August 2022 she was told there was no longer any evidence of the disease.

Although rates of bowel cancer are highest among people aged 85 to 89 in Britain, experts have warned that rates are rising among adults under 50, like both Ellie and Dame Deborah.

Experts are concerned about a mysterious increase in cancer among younger adults in general, a problem that has come into sharp focus following Kate Middleton’s shock diagnosis last month.

The main symptoms of colon cancer are unusual changes in your toilet habits, such as softer poop, diarrhea or constipation.

Pooping more or less often than normal, blood in your stool, or feeling like you need to poop even after you’ve just left are other symptoms.

Like Ellie, people may also experience abdominal pain or other symptoms such as bloating, losing weight without trying, or fatigue.

Anyone who experiences these complaints for three weeks or longer is advised to contact their GP.

Symptoms of bowel cancer can also be caused by other conditions, but it is important to get checked so that the disease can be caught as early as possible.

Cancer Research UK estimates that more than half (54 percent) of bowel cancer cases in Britain are preventable.

Some risk factors for the disease include eating too little fiber, eating too much red meat and obesity.