{"id":262965,"date":"2026-02-01T20:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262965\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T20:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:54:45","slug":"dismissed-as-piles-fit-31-year-old-warns-against-silent-cancer-symptoms-after-big-ominous-tumour-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262965\/","title":{"rendered":"Dismissed as piles: Fit 31-year-old warns against \u2018silent\u2019 cancer symptoms after \u2018big, ominous\u2019 tumour found |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DismissedChris, a regular gym-goer who considered himself healthy and fit, initially dismissed subtle cancer symptoms\/ Image: Ladbible Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing. A father-of-three who was diagnosed with stage two bowel cancer at the age of 31 has spoken candidly about the early warning signs he initially dismissed, describing the disease as \u201cgreat, big and ominous\u201d precisely because of how quietly it developed. Chris Kirt, a cloud engineer from Northamptonshire, was training regularly at the gym and considered himself fit and healthy when he first noticed something was wrong in the summer of 2024. <\/p>\n

The symptoms he brushed off <\/p>\n

The first sign was blood after going to the toilet. \u201cIt was the tiniest bit. It was so insignificant, but it never happened to me before,\u201d Chris told LADbible. \u201cYou Google it, right? You talk yourself out of it. So I didn\u2019t go to doctors.\u201d Over the following weeks, the bleeding continued and worsened. \u201cIt was almost like what a woman would typically lose on her period. It was kind of that sort of bleeding,\u201d he said. When he eventually went to his GP, initial investigations offered reassurance rather than answers. \u201cThey originally did a full blood test, and it all came back normal,\u201d Chris recalled. \u201cThey just said it would be piles. \u201cBut I said, \u2018I\u2019m not satisfied with what you\u2019re telling me because you\u2019ve not seen or felt what\u2019s causing the bleeding\u2019.\u201d He was given a FIT test, a faecal immunochemical test used to detect traces of blood in stool, which led to further referral. <\/p>\n

The moment everything changed<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Chris travelled to Rome to propose to his partner. \u201cI proposed to her on day one of getting there in the evening, and it was amazing. She said, \u2018Yes\u2019,\u201d he said.\"cancer\"<\/p>\n

Chris\u2019s diagnosis shocked his wife and three young children, adding emotional strain to an already stressful period\/ Instagram<\/p>\n

The following day, his symptoms escalated dramatically. \u201cWe\u2019re drinking heavy. I don\u2019t really drink. I\u2019m drinking heavy and things. And the next day, I\u2019m just losing a tremendous amount of blood. \u201cMy stools were basically just black and full of red blood.\u201d Back in the UK, a colonoscopy confirmed what Chris feared the moment he saw the screen. \u201cAnd I just saw this great, big, ominous tumour, which was just awful looking,\u201d he said. \u201cAs soon as I saw it, I panicked. I tried to get up, and I said \u2018that\u2019s cancer\u2019.\u201d Medical staff told him they were \u201c99 percent sure this is cancer\u201d, pending biopsy results. Telling his partner was devastating. \u201cSo I walk into this waiting room and I just shook my head, and she just broke down,\u201d he said. \u201cTo add to all this, we had just had a little girl who was three months old at the time, and I got two other kids.\u201d <\/p>\n

Treatment, remission and the warning he now shares <\/p>\n

Chris was scheduled for surgery in November 2024, though his first operation was cancelled when his surgeon fell ill. He later underwent robotic surgery to remove the tumour. \u201cThey took a third of my bowel out and stitched it together,\u201d he said. \u201cI have had no issues toileting afterwards. It\u2019s actually better than what it was.\u201d By December, he was told the cancer had not spread and that he was in remission. \u201cThe very end of it all was the cancer had not spread. It had not spread anywhere else. So I\u2019m good. I\u2019m in remission.\u201d Now aged 33, Chris is using his experience to raise awareness of what he calls bowel cancer\u2019s \u201csilent\u201d symptoms, signs he believes are too often minimised, particularly in younger patients.As he looks back now, Chris can trace a pattern of symptoms that only made sense once the diagnosis came.The first thing he properly noticed was night sweats. He began waking drenched, not lightly overheated but soaked through. \u201cI\u2019d wake up soaked from head to toe like I\u2019d been in a swimming pool,\u201d he said, remembering how the bed itself would be wet. At the time, he didn\u2019t connect it to anything serious.Fatigue followed. After work, he would sit down on the sofa and fall asleep almost immediately. \u201cI\u2019d get in, sit on the sofa, and I\u2019d just knock out,\u201d he said. For someone who trained regularly and considered himself fit, the exhaustion felt off, but not alarming enough to push him to act. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t normal,\u201d he said later. \u201cThat was chronic fatigue.\u201dHis bowel habits were also changing in ways that were easy to rationalise away. He never felt fully empty after using the toilet and noticed his stools fluctuating wildly, sometimes soft and almost melted, other times hard, fragmented and painful. It was inconsistent, uncomfortable, and persistent.Then there was the bleeding. At first, it appeared bright red. Later, darker and more alarming. He now knows that blood in stool can present in different ways depending on where the bleeding occurs, but at the time, it was just another symptom he hoped had a simpler explanation.One episode in particular still stands out. Before his diagnosis, Chris experienced sudden, severe abdominal pain that radiated into his chest. \u201cI thought I was having a heart attack,\u201d he said. He called 999, convinced something catastrophic was happening. Only later did he suspect it may have been caused by a partial blockage in his bowel. According to the NHS and Bowel Cancer UK, symptoms such as persistent bleeding, unexplained fatigue, night sweats, abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits should always be checked, even though they can overlap with conditions like IBS or haemorrhoids. Chris now shares his story on TikTok (@official_chriskirt<\/a>) and has launched a cancer preparation kit<\/a> designed to help people advocate for themselves in GP appointments. \u201cI think the biggest thing is mentioning how silent this thing is,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve gotta be aware of your symptoms.\u201d Since treatment, he has overhauled his lifestyle. \u201cI run more. I eat better. I quit red meat. I don\u2019t smoke. Don\u2019t drink. I don\u2019t vape,\u201d he said. \u201cI quit all of that because I\u2019m constantly worried that it\u2019s gonna come back.\u201d His message is not one of fear, but vigilance, especially for younger people who assume cancer is something that happens later, or to someone else.