Alice Norris, 35, is a mum of two, and she received the crushing news just four months after her daughter was born
Alice Norris, 35, from Newcastle, who has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer(Image: PA)
A Newcastle woman had her ‘world turned upside down’ after she was diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer. Alice Norris, 35, is a mum of two, and she received the crushing news just four months after her daughter was born, and she said all she can do to cope is to put “one foot in front of the other”.
Alice was pregnant with her daughter, Olivia, when she noticed blood in her stool, initially putting it down to haemorrhoids, but when she noticed changes in her poo as well, she realised something may be seriously wrong. A colonoscopy confirmed that she had a large bowel tumour, beginning months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to attempt to shrink it.
Originally from the North East, Alice spent 15 years living in London, but is now based in Somerset to be closer to family during her treatment. She is “taking each day as it comes”, and feels her story is “the opposite to the perception of someone who’s got bowel cancer”.
She said: “I’m young, I’m so healthy, I’m active. I’ve run a marathon, I used to do CrossFit. I’m always on the dance floor, I would like to think that I’m a really fit, active, healthy person. So I guess this really just shows that it can happen to anyone”.
The mum, who lives with her children Oscar, two, Olivia, now 11 months, and her husband Olly, continued: “During the later stages of my second pregnancy, I started to notice blood in my poo, but I had read and I knew about haemorrhoids, so I didn’t want to panic.
“But when I started to see differences in my poo as well as the blood, I promised myself that if these symptoms don’t get better once my baby is born, then I’ll go to the doctors. I feel so silly now saying that, and it sounds silly looking back, like: ‘Why didn’t you go sooner?’ But this is my second pregnancy, and I knew people who had piles. I put it down to the pregnancy, ultimately”.
Alice Norris, 35, from Newcastle, who has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer, alongside her daughter Olivia(Image: PA)
However, after Olivia’s birth in January 2025, the symptoms did not improve, with Alice adding: “In fact, they got worse Every day was a different story when I looked in the toilet, and that was worrying. Thankfully, I was sent for a colonoscopy, and that’s when my world got turned upside down”.
In June 2025, after the procedure, Alice was taken into a private room and told that doctors had identified a large tumour, and that they were “very, very sure that it’s cancer”. She continued: “It was just such a tough moment, I felt shocked and distressed and like the rug was just being pulled from under my feet.
“But thankfully, I’m a practical person, so I did go straight to: Right, what’s the next step? What do we need to do, here. But, as you can imagine, it was just awful. And pretty much from that moment, life just became a whirlwind. I was getting to know my new best friends, who were doctors, nurses.
“I was having blood tests, consultations, infusions. I was whisked away from my four-month-old baby, I had to stop breastfeeding immediately. Life just looked so different. My husband had to take on having a new-born and having a toddler full time, pretty much, on his own, because I had to be at all these appointments”.
When it comes to treatment, Alice was determined to “throw the kitchen sink at this”, adding: “I want anything and everything, anything that can get me through this, I’ll do it. It was really brutal, I’m a positive person, but it really tested me, and I was surprised by how floored I really was”.
Alice Norris, 35, from Newcastle, who has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer, alongside her daughter Olivia and son Oscar(Image: PA)
She continued: “I felt constantly sick. I lost all my hair, couldn’t sleep. But it did have an entertaining side effect or two, which was cravings for chicken nuggets, so I spent a lot of time in the McDonald’s drive through car park! But I guess you’ve got to take any small highlights that you can get”.
After six cycles of chemotherapy over 12 weeks, she had a four-week break before undergoing five weeks of radiotherapy. Alice is as optimistic as she can be for the year ahead, saying: “Now we’re in a new year, and what I’m hoping and praying for is surgery in the spring. That is the hope.
“Cancer, it’s unpredictable. No one can say what’s gonna happen until we see scans. I’ve had to live with uncertainty before, but I’ve had to learn to live with it again”, she said, referring to losing her mum, Elizabeth Anne, to blood cancer eight years ago.
She added: “It’s really difficult, and it’s worrying, and it’s distressing, and all I can do is take each day as it comes. I just have to bring it back down to today, and literally tell myself to put one foot in front of the other, and that’s how I cope with it”.
For more information on bowel cancer and the symptoms that you need to be aware of, visit the Bowel Cancer UK charity website here.
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