Brave mother-of-three Leila now has utterly vital advice for all of us
Leila’s wife Kira is supporting her through her treatment (Image: GoFundMe)
Leila Hawksley-Guest first noticed something wasn’t right with her health in January last year.
a busy mum-of-three, she went for a number of appointments, with medics initially thinking she may have irritable bowel syndrome or the stomach condition Crohn’s disease.
But in December the hospitality worker from Callington was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“I kept pushing, saying something’s not right,” Leila said. “I didn’t get an appointment until December. So it was quite a long and frustrating wait.
“When I had the colonoscopy, immediately, they kept me aside whilst everyone else went home. The person who did the colonoscopy then said straight away that they’d seen something suspicious.”
Leila underwent surgery last month to have part of her colon removed.
And she has since been told she will need six months of chemotherapy treatment – with doctors advising her not to work during that time.
“I had surgery on January 21st to have the right side of the colon removed,” Leila explained.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Leila through her treatment.
“Which is where the tumour was. I think they thought initially it was stage two and I wouldn’t need chemo. But I went last week to have the results of the histology and it moved to a stage 3C diagnosis, which in turn requires chemotherapy. It was a bit of a shock because I hadn’t expected that.
“I’d just got my head around thinking I’m recovering from surgery and now I can think about going back to work. But so far they’ve told me that it’s probably going to be six months worth (of chemotherapy).”
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Leila is trying to stay positive throughout the process – but has been advised not to work during her treatment.
Her wife Kira, who cares for her parents full time, has therefore set up a GoFundMe page to help support their family, writing: “It’s been an incredibly difficult few months, but she has shown such strength.
“We never wanted to turn to crowdfunding. We have explored every option available to us – payment breaks, financial assistance and government support – but we’ve reached a point where we have no other choice.”
Leila’s wife Kira is supporting her through her treatment (Image: GoFundMe)
Leila has also warned others to get checked if they have any concerns about their bowel health.
“Don’t hesitate to push the doctors to do something,” she said.
“I did keep going back to the doctors and saying, ‘I still have these symptoms and things aren’t getting better’, but it still took an awfully long time.
“So I think people just need to push to get things looked at and not be embarrassed to ask the doctor.”
Of the symptoms to look out for, she added: “I didn’t have really typical symptoms. I just had an upset stomach every day. That was really the only symptom. And then I became extremely anaemic which was obviously from the tumour.
“So, just any changes in bowel habits – get it checked.”
You can view and support Leila’s GoFundMe page, here.
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