A educating assistant proudly teamed her summer time competition outfit of a blue bikini and furry coat with a strolling stick twinkling with fairy lights and two stoma baggage as she celebrated surviving stage three bowel most cancers.
Diagnosed aged simply 22, Sophie Anderson is now in remission and, impressed by bowel most cancers campaigner Dame Deborah James, is set to lift consciousness of the illness – notably in younger individuals.
Sudden weight reduction, passing blood and incontinence led to her preliminary prognosis and therapy simply after her twenty second birthday, just for the illness to return with a vengeance in October 2020 when a “football-sized” tumour was discovered on her bowel and harrowing life-saving surgical procedure adopted.
Refusing to be crushed, Sophie, of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, who has loved unbelievable help from her police officer boyfriend Alex, 24, is now taking advantage of life, saying: “So much happened to me, I shouldn’t even be here, but I am.”
She mentioned: “I went to the Secret Garden Party festival in Huntingdon in July with my friends and we all got dressed up.
“I had put on more weight and felt more confident and wore a blue bikini and a fur coat and wrapped my walking stick in fairy lights.
“I felt really good. I had such a good time and laughed more than I had in years.”
Sophie first skilled well being issues in 2016, aged 18, after beginning a college course in working division follow.
Sophie when she was 18 years outdated when her signs first began (Collect/PA Real Life)
She mentioned: “One day I needed to go to the toilet and passed a lot of blood.”
“It was weird, but it didn’t happen again for a while, so I thought maybe it was just a one off.
“Then I started to feel really weighed down, constantly bloated and fatigued.”
Putting her exhaustion right down to stress, her temper quickly dropped.
Sophie Anderson along with her dad, Simon Anderson, mum, Elizabeth Anderson, and sibling, Ash Anderson, 22 (Collect/PA Real Life)
She mentioned: “I was quite depressed because my body felt so weak and I couldn’t pinpoint why.”
Signed off from college at Easter 2017, as her psychological well being turned more and more fragile she moved again house, the place she now lives along with her mum, Elizabeth, 53, and sibling, Ash, 22, each educating assistants, and noticed her GP, who recognized despair and nervousness.
In July 2017, by then working as a carer, she started passing blood extra usually, saying: “Sometimes I would go for a week without anything,. Then there’d be lots and I was getting more constipated.”
Seeing completely different medical doctors over the approaching months, she was recognized with digestive problems together with IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, colon spasms and constipation – however nobody suspected she had most cancers.
I turned very afraid of the concept of dying in my sleep.
She mentioned: “I remember saying to my GP that I have a history of bowel cancer on my mum’s side of the family.
“I think, because of my age, it was just assumed that it could never be cancer, though.”
Concerned in case her carer position was making her pressured and impacting on her well being, Sophie switched to develop into a educating assistant at her native particular wants college in December 2018.
But her signs worsened and in summer time 2019 medical doctors put her on a restricted food plan, to see if she had Crohn’s illness.
Sophie Anderson after shedding two stone simply earlier than she was recognized (Collect/PA Real Life)
When, by September, she had misplaced two stone, she was booked in for a colonoscopy, to examine inside her bowels, whereas a biopsy revealed a month later that she had bowel most cancers.
She mentioned: “I remember being relieved at first, because it meant there was actually something wrong with me, but I think I just felt numb.
“I don’t think I heard anything else after they said those words.”
Given a colostomy operation to divert one finish of the colon via a gap within the tummy, she then acquired three rounds of chemotherapy over six weeks.
Sophie Anderson, 24, along with her first colostomy bag (Collect/PA Real Life)
After that, she had surgical procedure at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge in March 2020 to take away a grapefruit-sized tumour on her bowel, in addition to a full hysterectomy.
She had a part of her colon and her left ovary eliminated, the place the tumour had grown a lot and her short-term stoma to gather waste was additionally efficiently reversed.
Luckily, additional chemotherapy was cancelled, as she was confirmed to be in remission by July.
She mentioned: “I’ve never cried because I was happy before, but I did as I was so excited and relieved to just get back to work and get on with my life.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, after her first main operation to take away a grapefruit-sized tumour on her bowel, have a full hysterectomy and reverse her stoma (Collect/PA Real Life)
In the meantime, whereas Sophie knew that her grandmother, Hazel Cockrill, had died from bowel most cancers in 1998, she didn’t know that her grandfather, John Cockrill, had from the identical illness on the similar age in 2011.
And investigations revealed that she had Lynch syndrome – a hereditary gene which exhibits a robust historical past of colon most cancers – additionally detected posthumously in her grandfather’s DNA, in addition to in her mum.
Sophie mentioned: “It never occurred to me that I could have the same.”
Devastatingly, in October 2020, she felt unwell once more, solely to find the most cancers had returned and unfold to her lymph nodes, making it stage three.
Sophie’s scar after her first huge surgical procedure (Collect/PA Real Life)
This time, she was instructed the tumour on her bowel was very massive.
She mentioned: “I started to think it was actually something that could kill me.
“It started to feel really real and to mess with my head.
“I became very scared of the idea of dying in my sleep.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, in hospital throughout therapy (Collect/PA Real Life)
To try to shrink the tumour earlier than surgical procedure, she was admitted to hospital for 3 months of immunotherapy – a specialised most cancers therapy.
She pulled via regardless of struggling vital liver injury and suspected sepsis – a life threatening response to an an infection.
By June 2021, Sophie was prepared for a 14-hour operation to take away the tumour in addition to a part of her vagina, rectum, bowel, bladder, and tailbone, the place the tumour had unfold.
She additionally had pelvic reconstruction, among the nerves down her left leg had been lower because of the injury brought about from her tailbone and a everlasting colostomy and urostomy had been fitted.
Sophie Anderson, 24, in hospital throughout therapy (Collect/PA Real Life)
She mentioned: “I felt numb.
“The doctors just listed everything I needed to lose and I started to think about how it would affect me day-to-day and had no idea what I would still be able to do.
“I was scared my life could be over and the surgery might not even work.”
With no ensures of a remedy, Sophie feared the therapy may be an excessive amount of to bear.
The surgeon instructed me the tumour on my bowel and urgent on my organs had been the scale of a soccer.
She mentioned: “I was scared that I could be making myself disabled because they feared that I may get foot drop – which I thankfully didn’t – and I didn’t like thinking about life with two stomas.
“I was scared that I would lose so much of myself and it might not even be worth it. ”
In June 2021 when she arrived at St Mark’s Hospital, a specialist bowel unit in London, the very last thing Sophie remembers is being given anaesthetic.
She mentioned: “I remember sitting on the bed and being told I was going to need an epidural and then I don’t remember anything until a week later.”
Sophie in hospital throughout therapy final yr (Collect/PA Real Life)
She added: “I was told that I woke up after surgery and wouldn’t stop screaming.
“They found out I had internal bleeding, so I was taken back into the operating theatre for four hours and didn’t come to for another five days.”
In the meantime, she suffered a stroke, which suggests she now typically turns into confused or muddled.
She mentioned: “The surgeon told me the tumour on my bowel and pressing on my organs had been the size of a football.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, studying to face once more with assist from the nurses (Collect/PA Real Life)
Despite her positivity, coming to phrases along with her intensive surgical procedure has been extremely tough for Sophie.
She mentioned: “Losing part of my vagina made me feel like I wasn’t as much of a woman anymore.
“I was already completely infertile, with no possibility of having any biological children because of surgery. Then to have part of my vagina removed too was devastating.”
And whereas intimacy could also be potential sooner or later, Sophie says it won’t be quick.
Sophie Anderson, 24, along with her boyfriend, Alex, who has supported her at each step (Collect/PA Real Life)
She mentioned: “I do feel like I have lost a lot of my womanhood, especially as the hysterectomy means I am going through the menopause. It has had a huge impact on me.
“Alex and I have been together for six years and he’s been so supportive throughout. We have spoken about adoption in the future, or surrogacy. But we will just have to see what happens.”
For two months after her operations, Sophie was saved in intensive care, as she recovered from surgical procedure and was slowly taught to handle with day-after-day life.
She mentioned: “I knew what was going to happen to me, but I had been in denial.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, proudly displaying her stomas (Collect/PA Real Life)
She added: “Waking up with two bags on my stomach and not feeling my left leg was really scary. I felt broken.
“I needed four people to help me stand up on the first day. Then I just started learning to walk with very, very small steps.”
By August 2021, Sophie was house, beginning a yr of restoration – counting on her mother and father and boyfriend to assist her rebuild her well being.
She mentioned: “My mum turned the dining room into my bedroom and made it homely with my get well cards and cats asleep on the bed.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, proudly displaying her stomas (Collect/PA Real Life)
She added: “I started to be able to do my stomas myself and my own dressings and pain medication and to feel more independent.”
Gradually, Sophie has regained most of her energy and, by early summer time this yr, she started planning with mates and is even hoping to return to work subsequent month.
She mentioned: “I hadn’t driven my car for two years as I wasn’t well enough.
“But in July, I finally got to drive it around the village. I was so nervous, but I felt like I finally had some independence to go and visit friends.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, dwelling her greatest life this summer time (Collect/PA Real Life)
Sophie added: “Alex and I went on a date to a steak house 10 minutes away from where I live, too, in October. I put on a dress and some make up and had my hair done. I felt more human.
“Alex has been brilliant. He came to appointments with me and visited me in hospital whenever he could.
“For so long, we were almost in this carer-partner relationship and now we are getting back into being a proper couple again.
“It was really hard, but I have been so lucky to have him. He has been really amazing. ”
Sophie Anderson, 24, along with her mates at The Secret Garden Party competition this summer time (Collect/PA Real Life)
And Sophie was overjoyed to hitch her friends at a few of this yr’s summer time music festivals.
After the Secret Garden Festival she went to the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire earlier this month.
She additionally went on a charity-organised journey to Bournemouth, Dorset, in July, with different younger cancer-survivors, to get pleasure from kayaking, pottery and enjoyable by the seaside.
She mentioned: “It was amazing getting back in the sea. I was nervous about my stomas, but they were fine and it was really good fun.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, in her bikini along with her stoma baggage, alongside her boyfriend, Alex, 24 (Collect/PA Real Life)
As effectively as getting ready to return to her college job in September, Sophie is eager to unfold consciousness of bowel most cancers and to focus on the way it can have an effect on younger individuals.
Bravely documenting her personal progress in movies on her telephone she mentioned: “No one seems to look for bowel cancer in people under a certain age.
“If someone had suspected I had bowel cancer earlier, I would probably be in a better position now.
“It is so important to recognise the symptoms, such as passing blood, bloating or fatigue – even if you are young, when it’s easy to brush off certain things and think they will go away.”
This summer time I’ve completed issues that I by no means thought I might do once more.
Sophie added: “You have to listen to your body and push to get the right tests done, because this could save your life.
“If, by raising awareness, I can get just one person to push to have a colonoscopy and get an early diagnosis, it will be worth it.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through what I have been through.”
Before returning to work, Sophie has a a visit to Plymouth, by the Devon seaside, to sit up for on the finish of August, the place she will likely be visiting household and mates.
She mentioned: “I am so happy I am here.
“This summer I have done things that I never thought I would do again.
“I have seen other girls my age with the same disease not make it and it’s hard to know that they won’t get to grow up, have a family or go to the beach, like I am doing again.“I want to make the most of every day now and celebrate what I have and not what I have lost.”
Sophie Anderson, 24, displaying off her stomas (Collect/PA Real Life)
Meanwhile, Alex couldn’t be prouder of his girlfriend.
He mentioned: “I can’t say anything else other than how proud I am of Sophie.
“Seeing everything she has been through has been the hardest thing I will ever face.
“After having the surgery last year and everything that happened, when I saw her walk for the first time without support or a crutch, I have never felt more proud.
“To go through all that and then be willing to talk about it and try and help others, just makes me love her even more.“It all made me realise that the thing I loved most about her was how determined she was. I didn’t know it when I met her, but it was her determination that made me fall in love with her.”
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk
