I blamed my tummy troubles on IBS and stress for years – it’s a mistake that could cost my life
A MUM of newborn twins blamed her persistent bloating and gas on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which had plagued her for years.
But Bri Mahon, 31, knew something was wrong when she began noticing blood in her poo.
After a series of tests, doctors diagnosed the mum with stage 3 bowel cancer.
In a candid TikTok video that has since had 1.9 million views, Bri went into detail about the cancer symptoms she initially dismissed as IBS-related.
“The past few years I have had gut issues in general, a lot of bloating, a lot of signs that would point more towards IBS,” she said.
The mum of two described being extremely careful with what she ate, cutting out gluten, dairy and soy to avoid triggering tummy troubles.
Bri also did countless blood and allergy tests, none of which showed anything ‘concerning’.
“I would say I started to notice a change in my anxiety and my fatigue about two years ago,” she recalled, causing her to ‘step back’ from work and bringing on panic attacks.
“I think it’s just because my body was really, really, really tired and going through whatever it’s going through, growing a tumour,” she explained.
Shortly after giving birth to her twins prematurely in September 2022, Bri began noticing blood in her poo.
But she chalked it up to pregnancy-induced haemorrhoids and an IBS flare-up.
“I wasn’t even really thinking about what I was really going through,’ she recalled.
“I thought it was stress. I thought it was depression. I thought it was anxiety, kind of all these things coming up again. My fatigue was really bad.”
But with the mum’s baby boys spending their first four months in hospital, she thought stress, bloating and constipation were justified under these circumstances.
But Bri started to grow more concerned as she found blood in her stool more regularly, and the colour changed from bright to dark red.
Her “out of control” urgency to go to the bathroom also sounded the alarm.
“I was either insanely constipated or I’d be going to the bathroom and dark blood would be coming out,” the mum said.
After a few months of these symptoms, Bri called her doctor and got a referral to a gastroenterologist, who carried out a colonoscopy and biopsies.
These all confirmed that the mum-of-two had stage 3 bowel cancer.
At 31, Bri is one of the increasingly younger cohort of people falling victim to bowel cancer, with a recent report suggesting that people under 50 in the US have double the risk of bowel cancer now than they did in 1995.
Bowel cancer is typically thought of as a disease that affects older people, over the age of 50.
In a separate video, Bri explained that cancer fatigue “was unlike anything I have genuinely experienced,” despite having been through a twin pregnancy.
“It’s not really that my mind was fatigued,” she said – rather her physical day-to-day activities, such as yoga and exercise, would wipe her out completely to the point where she felt like was “dragging [her] feet through the day”.
The normally very active mum would need to take a nap immediately for a couple hours after even light exercise.
Bri said she still feels weak and needs to nap every afternoon to make it through the day.
Bri has just begun the first of two rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
She told BuzzFeed News that once her chemo and radiation are completed, she will have surgery to remove the remaining part of the tumour.
She told the outlet: “I think the most shocking thing about my diagnosis is that I would have never guessed it was cancer.
“Sure, I felt off in a way where I wanted to get checked out, but I originally assumed I had IBS and nothing concerning.
“Every time I’ve thought of cancer, I did not image an active, incredibly healthy 31-year-old with energy. It still feels very surreal to me to have my diagnosis.”
What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes to your normal toilet habits and going to your doctor are vital.
If you notice any of the signs, don’t be embarrassed – chances are your GP has heard it all before.
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
- A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habits – going more frequently for example
- Unexplained weight loss
- Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
- A pain or lump in your tummy
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Less common symptoms include:
- Abdominal discomfort
- Gas and bloating
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Fever
- Air bubbles in your urine
- Problems breathing
- Headache and neurological problems
- Bone pain
The two best ways to protect yourself are to know the signs and symptoms and to take up the invitation for NHS screening when you become eligible.
Depending on where you live, this starts aged 50.