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<\/p>\nCharlotte, who fought cancer twice before she turned 30, is raising awareness of the condition and she is urging young people to be more aware of the signs and symptoms<\/p>\n
Rachael Davis PA and rsvp Administrator<\/p>\n
18:22, 04 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
‘Maybe it was naive, but I really didn’t think I was going to have a recurrence during my remission'(Image: Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
A woman who was diagnosed with bowel cancer <\/a>at 26 after a tumour obstructed her colon and left her unable to eat, vomiting for three hours after mealtimes, and in severe pain <\/a>said the experience made her realise \u201chow fragile life is\u201d and works to raise awareness that \u201cthis can be happening to young people\u201d.<\/p>\n Charlotte Rutherford, now 32, was living in Australia in 2020 when she was admitted into hospital<\/a> with severe stomach pain, vomiting and complete loss of appetite.<\/p>\n She had been experiencing symptoms intermittently for around 18 months, but it wasn\u2019t until she was in an \u201cemergency state\u201d that a CT scan revealed she had Stage 3B bowel cancer, with the tumour obstructing her colon and having spread to her lymph nodes.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told that when I went into hospital the first time in 2020 that I was maybe 48 hours away from my heart just giving up,\u201d Charlotte told PA Real Life.<\/p>\n \u201cYou realise that, really, things can change so quickly \u2013 so don\u2019t sweat the small stuff \u2013 live life how you want to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte, who is a community manager for cancer charity Mission Remission and lives in Bristol, had been living in Australia for around three years when, in December 2020, she was rushed into hospital as severe but intermittent symptoms including stomach pain and vomiting became constant.<\/p>\n She was unable to eat, having three-hour vomiting episodes after mealtimes and losing \u201ca really dramatic amount of weight\u201d, and noticed a change in bowel habits, symptoms she\u2019d been experiencing on-and-off for around 18 months.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time I went into hospital, I was so constipated,\u201d Charlotte said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut all I can remember is the severe nausea, because, essentially, I was so blocked up and had been for a long time, it was kind of poisoning me.\u201d<\/p>\n When Charlotte was admitted into hospital, she was given a CT scan which revealed an obstruction in her bowel that required urgent surgery.<\/p>\n Upon seeing the CT scan, the doctors asked if Charlotte had a history of bowel cancer in her family.<\/p>\n \u201cI said: \u2018I don\u2019t have cancer, do I?\u2019. And they were like: \u2018We don\u2019t know yet, but we\u2019ll find out\u2019,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n On December 11, 2020 \u2013 within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital \u2013 Charlotte was in theatre having the obstruction removed for biopsy. On December 17, it was confirmed that she had advanced bowel cancer, and doctors estimated it had been developing for three to five years.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no time to think,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in Australia, and it was in Covid, so I was on my own in the hospital. To be honest, the thing that was going through my mind because of how unwell I felt\u2026 I just thought I was going to die in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte was diagnosed with Stage 3B bowel cancer, with the cancer having spread to her lymph nodes. While the large tumour and the affected lymph nodes had been removed during surgery, she required 12 weeks of preventative chemotherapy administered via drip and oral tablets to ensure there was no cancer remaining.<\/p>\n On 6 April 2021, having completed the four rounds of chemotherapy, Charlotte was told she was in remission.<\/p>\n Charlotte moved back to the UK in April 2021, and had scans and blood tests every six months for monitoring. By 2023, when she was 29, no recurrence had been noted, and when she went in for her routine scan in February 2023 Charlotte \u201cfelt so fit and so healthy, it was probably the scan I went into with the least amount of scan anxiety\u201d.<\/p>\n However, nine days later, Charlotte received a call from the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said, \u2018Your surgeon would like to see you next week\u2019\u2026 I was like, I\u2019ve never been called in before, so that can\u2019t be good news,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n At that appointment, Charlotte was told the cancer had returned on her lung, and she was diagnosed as stage 4, since it had metastasized away from its original location in the bowel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spoke about treatment options, and normally, the NHS will say that anyone who\u2019s had a recurrence has to have another round of chemo. But I was 29 at the time, and fertility was a really big factor,\u201d Charlotte said.<\/p>\n \u201cI essentially had to weigh up whether it meant more to me to not have chemo and protect my fertility, or have chemo and reduce my chance of the cancer coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of the tumour\u2019s small size, Charlotte was able to have it removed through keyhole surgery in April 2023. She was on bed rest for two weeks, and \u201cafter that, it was a case of really slowly and gradually building up my fitness again\u201d. She was told she was in remission again in August 2023.<\/p>\n The hardest part, she said, \u201cwas the breathlessness \u2013 I couldn\u2019t walk anywhere without being so breathless\u2026 It took a long time to build up my fitness again\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it was naive, but I really didn\u2019t think I was going to have a recurrence during my remission,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a huge shock, because I felt so fit and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Battling cancer twice in her late 20s has taken an emotional toll on Charlotte, too.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I was so young, you\u2019re around an age group where people are progressing with other areas of their life, like buying houses and work and stuff. You just feel so behind where everyone else is, for something that is just so out of your control.\u201d<\/p>\n As April marks Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Charlotte is urging both young people and medical professionals to look out for the warning signs of bowel cancer. The NHS states that the main symptoms of bowel cancer include changes in your poo, blood in stools, which can make poo black or red, stomach pain, losing weight without trying, and bloating.<\/p>\n According to data from Bowel Cancer UK, every year more than 2,500 people under the age of 50 are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t quite that awareness still that this can happen to young people,\u201d Charlotte said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that just raising awareness of the symptoms and making sure people have the confidence to get checked if something doesn\u2019t feel right\u2026 To not have that immediate thought of: \u2018You\u2019re too young to have bowel cancer\u2019 is important.\u201d<\/p>\n This Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Bowel Cancer UK and Takeda UK are spotlighting their Stage4You campaign \u2013 developed and funded by Takeda UK and supported by Bowel Cancer UK \u2013 which has been created to address the real challenges and unmet needs of people living with stage 4 bowel cancer.<\/p>\n Particularly in April, when much-needed awareness content is more prolific, the campaign encourages \u201cpeople living with stage 4 bowel cancer to take a self-awareness day, and give themselves permission to step back when disease awareness content feels too much\u201d.<\/p>\n For Charlotte, Stage4You has been valuable as it \u201cacknowledges the mental toll of what we\u2019re going through, and gives us that acknowledgement to be able to just take some time, and to see that life doesn\u2019t just go on as normal sometimes\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my whole perspective on life changed (after cancer),\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cI say yes to more things. I make sure that all of the time I have is spent doing things that I actually want to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it shows you how fragile life is.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from RSVP<\/a> ? To add RSVP as a preferred source of news on Google, simply click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlotte, who fought cancer twice before she turned 30, is raising awareness of the condition and she is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[258,103,61,60,37825],"class_list":{"0":"post-382259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-real-life"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}