Sharyn’s Story

“I’m telling my story to help others and to encourage anyone who has any symptoms to get checked. I have said for years I never worried about getting cancer as no one in my family has had any type of cancer. ( Heart attacks alzheimers and everything else was more of a worry for me)

I was 52 when I randomly had a lot of blood when I went to the toilet. I felt otherwise fine and only had blood on a couple more occasions. My partner encouraged me to go the the Dr. I was more worried about the arthritis in my hip which was painful but got both checked by my GP.

I was working full time, more active than I had been for some time and extremely busy at work and living in Auckland. It took some time to get a colonoscopy appointment ( 6 months or so) but I would follow up with my GP. I moved home to Palmerston North in April 2023 which was lucky as eventually I had a Colonoscopy and then everything happened very fast. I was told that day that I had a number of polyps and a low-rectal 8 cm tumour which was cancerous. My 25 year old daughter was with me as my driver when I was told and she burst into tears. However that helped me as I was more worried about her than me at that point. That was in May 2023

Then began the journey that I have been on. The surgeon in Palmerston North, Mr Young ( and all the staff and Palmerston North hospital) was amazing and very patient explaining everything to myself, my partner and children. One time we were with him for an hour and a half just asking questions and never felt rushed. I asked him what would happen if I didn’t have the surgery and he was very frank – I would die. ( Afterwards I wished I had asked when but didn’t want to at the time). So since then I have had multiple scans, radiation, limited chemo as that caused me heart problems ( which was good as I didn’t really want to do chemo anyway), then surgery for an ileostomy bag in September 2023. That took some time to get used to but It was actually okay and I coped with it better than I thought I would. I kept working right through it all, only taking a few weeks off. I was lucky that I could work from home. I had a new partner and the worst part was thinking about how he would cope with this disgusting bag. But actually he and everyone else were amazing and for the most part life carried on as normal. The surgeon advised that they had been able to remove all the cancer during the surgery. Now that I was “cancer free” the urgency died off and it was six months before I could get my bag removed. Then I had an infection, a seroma that burst through my wound in the bathroom one night and then another surgery for an abscess. I had heard stories that this was harder and some people had even asked to have a permanent bag installed. It was certainly a challenge with the constant diarrhea and accidents initially and getting used to your body functions again. Made worse by not being able to “run” to the toilet as I was on crutches for my hip. I constantly felt tired and found it a struggle to go back to work full time so eventually after a few weeks resigned to focus on myself. Looking back I probably had been overdoing it for some time! One year on and I am cancer free and finally had my hip replacement three weeks ago which was delayed while I had my cancer treatment due to the cancer being a priority and the risk of infection. So four surgeries, and all the other treatment later the year from hell is over.

I now have a part time job and am looking forward to doing a glass blowing course in the new year, something I have always wanted to do. Time to focus on me I have decided! I am pretty much back to normal or the new normal which is fine.

I am off to Rarotonga for a break in four weeks and absolutely cant wait!

Getting checked straight away was important and meant I could get it treated before it had spread too far. Please do the same – it might just save your life.”