My tummy bug turned out to be inoperable stomach cancer: Mother, 45, reveals how she received heartbreaking diagnosis after doctors initially put her heartburn and bloating down to her age

A mother has revealed how she was given a heartbreaking cancer diagnosis after doctors initially blamed her heartburn and bloating on her age.

Donna Taylor, 45, struggled with exhaustion and loss of appetite while on holiday in Turkey and Cornwall last summer.

The mother-of-two had suffered from heartburn, reflux and bloating 18 months earlier, but blamed the symptoms on her age and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

But after returning from vacation with her children, she spent three days in bed with a germ.

Donna and her doctor initially thought it was due to stress, but when her symptoms persisted, she was referred to a cancer program.

She underwent emergency endoscopy and a CT scan where a huge mass was found on her abdomen.

The 45-year-old subsequently underwent a laparoscopy and several biopsies and was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2023.

She was told the cancer had spread to her peritoneum – a membrane around your abdominal organs – and was now inoperable.

Donna, who has worked in children’s services for ten years, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: ‘It was heartbreaking. Cancer takes so much out of you. It tried to take so much away, but it gave me so much.

‘It’s about living with cancer. My time is so precious. There is a richness in my life.’

Donna started experiencing heartburn and reflux in early 2022 and said: ‘I was going through two bottles of Gaviscon a week.’

But the doctor initially put it down to her age and wasn’t concerned.

In August last year she went on two family holidays and started noticing a loss of appetite.

She said: ‘I went from three meals to two to one. I felt really bloated. I stopped wearing a bra for a year – it was really uncomfortable.

‘I felt exhausted, more than I had ever experienced. I started losing weight. It bothered me.’

When Donna returned from vacation, she was struck by a bug and said she was “in bed for three days.”

She added: “I thought ‘this is not OK’.”

Donna continued to feel ‘very bad’ and for a follow-up appointment with her GP in November 2023, she was referred and taken for an emergency endoscopy.

A subsequent CT scan confirmed a cancerous tumor on her abdomen.

Donna said: ‘I never thought for a second that I would be told I had stomach cancer.’

She then had to wait to see the extent of her cancer and underwent laparoscopy and biopsies.

The mother-of-two said: ‘It’s devastating. You are in no man’s land. You don’t know what you’re going to deal with.

‘I ended up in a parallel universe. Life before November, that life was over.’

In December, Donna was told the cancer had spread and was inoperable.

In January 2024, a stent was placed in her stomach to aid the digestion of food and medicine before she started chemotherapy at the end of the month.

Donna said: “It was intense and grueling. The chemotherapy is working. It shrinks the tumor.

‘I won’t have surgery because it’s spreading. The chemotherapy is about me being able to live a quality of life with cancer.’

Donna will complete her sixth cycle in June and then have a break to enjoy the summer with her children. She will then have regular scans to monitor the growth of the tumor.

She said, “I’ll just wish and pray that it continues to behave.”

Donna has stayed positive by setting up her charity Dee’s Tummy Cancer Charity in partnership with the Weston Park Cancer Charity and Cavendish Cancer Care.

She has already raised £16.5k her fundraising and is excited about her upcoming event ‘All that Glitters Charity Disco’ – in June – which she hopes can become an annual event.

She said: ‘I want it to be a legacy. Whatever happens to me, I want this to be a legacy.”