Kyley’s Story

I was 37 when I was diagnosed serendipitously with stage 3C bowel cancer.

I had had a history of irritable bowel, endo, a few family members who had had polyps removed and at the time was having problems keeping my iron levels up. So like most busy parents when my youngest started school I had time freed up to look after me.

The specialist who did my colonoscopy was not expecting to find anything, bar a few polyps, and so when I was the last patient to be discharged from the unit that day and he asked if my husband was with me, the world flipped. 

Before he told me the news he had kicked the ball rolling he had informed my GP, booked in my CT scan and made an appointment with the surgeon. They had found a large tumour, and it was most likely cancerous. 

Surgery revealed it was spreading to other parts of the bowel, and they detected it spread to my nodes, so the decision on if I wanted chemo was made for me. 

I was booked in for 8 rounds of chemo, infusions and tablets on a 3 weeks cycle, to start after New years, and the oncology team was so flexible – they made sure I was able to was able to make it to a long planned trip to Rakiura ten days after into my first chemo cycle, and then would timetable my appointments and chemo around the kids’ school day, and I managed 8 of the tablet cycles and 7 infusions.

I had a few hurdles during chemo – there were days when my neighbour was called to collect the kids so I could sleep, a few trips into ED, and the infusions have left me with some nerve damage that I continue to manage. But I still continue to say “I’m Lucky.” 

I’m a pharmacist. I have seen and helped many people travel this road before me and it’s those people, some of who are still here and many who are not, who were ever present in my mind throughout my journey and gave me strength. 

I was introduced to the Bowel Cancer New Zealand support groups thanks to friends who had gone through a similar journey in Australia, and the NZ group was an incredible space, so helpful to share what I was going through, what I could expect and also some amazing top tips to ease the burden. They introduced me to the Pinc and Steel programme and I have just tapped back into to help manage the nerve damage via physio and pilates.

Our children were 5 and 7, and our village enveloped us in support, fed us for 6 months, and allowed us to lead as close to normal lives as we could as we embarked on this journey, and my very special fur baby, Dougal, kept me company as the world carried on outside.

With kids so young we lightened the load where we could so CT scan day became ‘donut day’, a code word to get them through the school day, but also a different form of bravery beads, and true to word, I have had my 9th CT.  My 5 year milestone, No Evidence of Disease and donuts were on the menu again.