When Ellie Wilcock suffered sharp pains on one side of her abdomen and sudden attacks of fatigue in 2022, she attributed it to a urinary tract infection.
But the real cause was a cancer that kills almost 17,000 Britons every year and is increasing among those under 50.
The then 25-year-old from Peterborough was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, the most serious type of disease which means it spreads to other parts of the body.
Now in a tiktok videoseen more than 400,000 times, he has warned of the four first warning signs that he suffered before his diagnosis.
Perhaps the most unusual was agonizing pain affecting only one side of her abdomen and pelvis, leading some doctors to believe there was a problem affecting her reproductive system.
“(The pain) was on my left side,” he said. ‘It was because the tumor was blocking my large intestine.
“I thought it was more like urinary pain…the doctors thought it was a urinary tract infection.”
In another clip, she explained that some doctors at the hospital believed she might be suffering from an ovarian cyst.
Now, in a TikTok video, viewed more than 400,000 times, Ellie Wilcock has warned about the four first warning signs that she suffered before her diagnosis.
In 2022, the 25-year-old from Peterborough was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, the most serious type of the disease.
Mrs Wilcock also suffered other symptoms that are more commonly associated with bowel cancer.
The first, a change in his intestinal habits that caused diarrhea and constipation.
She said: “For me, it was a constant change between the two, but it wasn’t normal for me.”
And the fatigue. I would come home from work and I just wanted to lay down and go to bed.
‘I was very tired, I was really fatigued. Even sitting at my desk, I was falling asleep because I was so tired.’
He also noticed blood in the stool; Another well recognized sign of the condition.
“At the time I didn’t think I had this, but on reflection I did and I just didn’t notice it,” he said.
‘It could be a range of colours, it could be bright red or dark red.
‘But anything that’s not normal for you and you’ve noticed constant blood in your stool, then get it checked out.
‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of. The sooner you look at it, the sooner you’ll get it out of the way.
According to the NHS, anyone who experiences these symptoms for three weeks or longer should speak to their GP.
The first, a change in your bowel habits that caused diarrhea and constipation, is one of the best-known symptoms of the disease.
The content manager’s illness began with ‘extreme pain’ in the abdomen, a classic symptom of the disease. However, at the time she didn’t think “anything like that” and suspected it was simply a UTI.
Bowel cancer symptoms can also be caused by other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, but it is important to get checked so the disease can be detected as early as possible.
Ms Wilcock first sought help for abdominal pain in April 2022.
Tests for a urinary tract infection came back negative, but blood tests taken around the same time showed markers of inflammation.
These signs can indicate cancer but also other possible diseases and conditions.
She was then scheduled for an ultrasound and doctors hoped to find an ovarian cyst.
But the pain quickly worsened, forcing her to seek help at the ER.
Only when a biopsy was performed was the devastating truth revealed.
Tests carried out in February 2022 revealed that the disease had spread to the liver, ovaries and peritoneum, the membrane that supports the organs in the abdomen.
But when the pain worsened, he decided to seek help from his family doctor. Tests for a urinary tract infection came back negative, but blood tests taken around the same time showed markers of inflammation.
Bowel cancer can cause you to have blood in your stool, a change in bowel habit, a lump inside the intestine that can cause blockages. Some people also experience weight loss as a result of these symptoms.
After undergoing multiple surgeries to remove her cancer, as well as grueling rounds of chemotherapy, she was told in August 2022 that there was no further evidence of the disease.
In her new TikTok video, she urged anyone experiencing unusual symptoms to get checked out immediately.
‘I always say that cancer can happen to anyone, it doesn’t discriminate.
“It’s just a bulldozer that comes into people’s lives and fills waiting rooms with people, each with their own stories, their own families fighting this horrible disease.”
Its publication comes as experts continue to warn of a worrying rise in bowel cancers in under-50s, which has baffled doctors around the world.
The disease, the third most common cancer in the UK, is the same type that killed Dame Deborah James. at 40 years old in 2022.
Each year there are more than 44,000 new diagnoses of bowel cancer in the UK and almost 142,000 in the United States.
Although the vast majority affect people over the age of 50, rates in older age groups have decreased or remained stable, while diagnoses in younger adults have increased 50 percent over the past 30 years.
Dame Deborah James, nicknamed the ‘gut babe’, raised more than £11.3 million for cancer research and is credited with raising awareness of the disease, which killed her in 2022, aged 40.
Earlier this month, actor James Van Der Beek revealed that he had been diagnosed with the disease at the age of 47.
Cancer Research UK estimates that more than half (54 per cent) of bowel cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
Doctors have suggested that obesity, overuse of antibiotics, cell phone radiation and even invisible plastic particles in drinking water are possible triggers.
However, a growing number of experts point to ultra-processed foods as the cause.
Also known as UPF, these are prepared foods (including bread, cereals, and even salad dressings) made with artificial ingredients used to preserve, add flavor, and improve texture.
Some have even gone so far as to say that they could be as dangerous as tobacco and should come with a health warning similar to that on cigarettes.
Speaking to MailOnline earlier this year, oncologist and professor at Queen’s University Belfast, Dr Joe O’Sullivan, said: “The rise in cancer rates in young people has to be down to something we are consuming.” .
“And ultra-processed foods are the biggest lifestyle change in the last 40 years.”
Another concern is that younger people with colorectal cancer suffer slightly different symptoms than older patients, according to a recent study.
The researchers looked at 5,000 people in Taiwan of different ages with the disease, found that six in 10 under the age of 50 suffered rectal bleeding before being diagnosed with the disease, compared with less than half of those over 50.
And nearly 60 percent of young people with the disease also experienced changes in their health habits before or after diagnosis, compared with 48 percent of older patients.
The study found that patients under 50 are more likely to be diagnosed later, when the cancer has spread, perhaps because they ignore changes in health.