Kirsten’s Story of Strength, Style, and Living with Bowel Cancer

“I got cancer for Christmas”  

This is how I’ve been leading the conversation about my cancer with the loved ones in my life.  

I know my humour is a little on the dark side, but it’s helping me keep the mood light as I deal with stage 4 cancer.  

My story is like so many other Kiwis out there who have been told they have the BIG C.  

For 12 months, I voiced my concerns to medical professionals, telling them I felt something was wrong with me. I had all the red flags for bowel cancer—blood in the stool, severe fatigue, changes in bowel habits, and pain during bowel movements. But because I was putting on weight, their remarks were, “It can’t be cancer; if it was cancer, you would be losing weight.” Well, I managed to prove them all wrong and gained 10 kg in 10 months.  

When the medical professionals finally decided to refer me for a colonoscopy, my symptoms were extreme. I waited patiently for the selected surgeon to reach out for an appointment. I have private insurance, so they should contact you pretty quickly, right?  

Eight weeks later I was still waiting, I went back to my GP, only to find out the surgeon he had referred me to might not have received my letter. We decided to contact another surgeon, and that decision might have just saved my life.  

Within 36 hours, my new surgeon’s team contacted me, and I had a colonoscopy scheduled in three weeks. My surgeon found a tumour that was obstructing almost all bowel movement and delivered the dark news, it was most likely cancer. 

Within the next three days, my private insurance had me booked in for a CT scan, blood workup, and an MRI.  

I was admitted for another surgery the following week for a flexible sigmoidoscopy and biopsies, which confirmed the news: I had stage 4 cancer, and it was the most aggressive type of bowel cancer you can have.  

Because of the placement of the tumour blocking my bowel, my surgeon decided I needed a stoma procedure. This has provided me with a better quality of life while I undergo treatment. There was the concern that when I started chemotherapy, I might end up unable to have any bowel movement at all.  

I cannot begin to thank my surgeon, Mr. Reid, for the urgency and seriousness he has shown in getting my treatment plan started. He had an appointment arranged with my oncologist within a week and an appointment with my vascular surgeon the week after, for the insertion of a portacath.  

It’s been six weeks since my diagnosis.  I have had four operations, celebrated a birthday, had my first round of chemo, seen Christmas, and New Year’s, had another two rounds of chemo, and that marks the halfway point for my chemotherapy.

Next, is five weeks of radiation, five days a week. Then, surgery to remove the tumour and possibly a stoma reversal, if there is enough bowel left to connect.  Once that’s all done, I will finish the year off with another three months of chemotherapy.   

I’m taking this journey one day at a time, playing golf in my pjs, eating jelly and ice cream for breakfast,  using the cancer card with my family if it gets me out of the dishes and laughing out loud at the situations my stoma has left me in (happily telling anyone that will listen all about it)  

It’s that little bit of laughter that gets us through the toughest times.”

Thank you, Kirsten, for bravely sharing your journey and raising awareness about bowel cancer. When Kirsten isn’t fighting cancer, she’s turning heads with her love of racing fashion, always looking fabulous.