08:12, 05 Jun 2026Updated 11:41, 05 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
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Ruth on her last day of 25 radiotherapy sessions(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
A mother who endured IBS for decades before being given a terminal bowel cancer diagnosis has declared she is resolute in outliving her prognosis and is manifesting a “miracle” as she maintains “cancer hates positivity”. Ruth Lloyd-Williams, 61, a businesswoman from Llandudno<\/a>, was initially diagnosed with bowel cancer “by chance” in February 2025 following an impromptu GP appointment for a routine check-up.<\/p>\n A month afterwards, she was informed she required a stoma and had “five years” remaining, and twelve months on, after undergoing various treatments including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she received the devastating news she had merely “months to live”. Despite this forecast, Ruth refuses to become a statistic and is adamant about witnessing her grandson’s birth in September \u2013 and she is presently undergoing a new treatment which she hopes will extend her life.<\/p>\n Should “the worst happens”, she has determined she would prefer to be cremated wearing her wedding dress to spare her family the “pain and heartbreak” of having to dispose of it, and she would like her ashes scattered in her rear garden, ensuring she “never misses out on a family BBQ or a garden party”.<\/p>\n Discussing her guidance to others facing terminal cancer, she told PA Real Life: “Don’t just sit there and be the statistic. It doesn’t matter how old you are because, unfortunately, cancer doesn’t care how old you are, or what your life plans are or whether you’re going on holiday next year.<\/p>\n “But if you can do anything, be as positive as you can. Cancer hates positivity. I am full of hope and do believe that miracles do happen.”<\/p>\n Ruth in hospital(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n Ruth has experienced symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) \u2013 a widespread condition affecting the digestive system which can trigger stomach pain or cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation \u2013 for as long as she can recall. She remembers suffering “tummy ache” from the age of five and being taken to hospital while at primary school, though she said doctors “never knew what to do about it”.<\/p>\n Upon reaching adulthood, she said she simply “learned to live with it” \u2013 yet her symptoms of agonising abdominal pain, irregular bowel movements and anxiety proved “debilitating” at times.<\/p>\n “You get to the point where it’s just part of your life,” Ruth said. “I was just left to get on with it, so every time it flared, I either treated it myself or I just saw myself through the process.”<\/p>\n Ruth said her symptoms were never thoroughly examined \u2013 she simply carried “this IBS label” \u2013 and her flare-ups persisted throughout the subsequent years. However, in January 2025, while at her GP surgery arranging an appointment for her husband Paul, now 67, she enquired about scheduling a check-up for herself.<\/p>\n She had been suffering some discomfort and observed a recent shift in her bowel habits, prompting her to think: “I’ll go and ask, I’ve not been for years.” Following an initial consultation, Ruth was sent for a colonoscopy on February 5, 2025, which she described as “fairly painless and all over in a flash”.<\/p>\n Within an hour, she said she received the “bombshell” diagnosis that she had bowel cancer and a 6cm tumour had been discovered. “It was almost like an out-of-body experience \u2013 you’re out there watching somebody else get this news that’s going to change their life,” she said.<\/p>\n The subsequent month, in March, her consultant informed her the cancer was “treatable and not curable” and she would require a stoma \u2013 an opening on the surface of the abdomen which has been surgically created to divert the flow of faeces or urine.<\/p>\n She continued: “I could hear this wailing noise and it wasn’t until I stopped to think that I realised that wailing noise was me.”<\/p>\n Ruth in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in February after having her liver resectioned and ablated(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n On the day of the stoma operation on March 19, 2025, Ruth said she turned up at hospital wearing silver sequin trousers to “make a statement”. Yet, merely two days afterwards, she received additional “out of the blue” information.<\/p>\n “The consultant came along to see me and said, ‘I’ve got some news for you. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to upgrade your diagnosis’,” she said. “I said, jovially, ‘Oh, an upgrade to me is extra leg room and a glass of champagne, so what is it?’ He said, ‘No, unfortunately, the scan showed that you’ve got mets (when cancer spreads) in your liver, you’ve got five years and there’s nothing we can do’.”<\/p>\n Ruth then received chemotherapy treatment from April through to September, accompanied by 25 radiotherapy sessions, before having her liver resectioned and ablated \u2013 a procedure employing extreme temperatures to eliminate cancer cells \u2013 on February 6, 2026. She later developed an infection, and a subsequent scan this March revealed the tumours had grown larger once more, with her liver described as “riddled”.<\/p>\n “I went to see the consultant after it had all calmed down and I was told I’d only got months to live,” she said. “But my answer to that was, ‘Well, I can’t go anywhere because I’ve got a grandson due in September’.”<\/p>\n Ruth, founder of Network She, a community support resource for women, was offered a novel treatment called Breakwater. She currently receives this via intravenous infusion fortnightly while taking daily tablets. While she experiences side effects including fatigue, nausea, mouth ulcers and peripheral neuropathy, a form of nerve damage, she is responding positively to the treatment and remains hopeful it will extend her life.<\/p>\n “It’s very easy to have a diagnosis and think, ‘Oh, I’m dying, I may as well just sit on the couch and wait for it to happen’… I’m not doing that,” she said. “I’m now on something that wasn’t available to me when I was first diagnosed, so one year down the line, two years down the line, there might be something else.”<\/p>\n Ruth, who also operates a medical education enterprise for healthcare professionals called HCP Ed-UK, is currently penning a diary-style book about living with bowel cancer, featuring characters named after her tumour, stoma and PICC line, which is used to administer chemotherapy or other treatments. She christened her tumour Billy because, initially, she hoped he would have “no mates”, her stoma Prada after the prestigious luxury brand and its bags, and her PICC line Lilli after the condiment piccalilli.<\/p>\n Ruth with her husband Paul(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n She has collaborated with an illustrator called Michelle Webster to produce an animated version of her tumour, basing the character on one of “the ugliest fish in the world”, a blue hairy frogfish, alongside her stoma.<\/p>\n “This all comes from dealing with imposter syndrome,” she explained. “I’ve found over the years that when you’re dealing with something that is big and uncomfortable, or just unpleasant, if you name it and you give it a personality, it’s easier to deal with.”<\/p>\n Ruth intends to publish the book later this year, entitled Ruth vs Billy \u2013 One Woman’s War Against Billy The Hairy Blue Face Frog Fish, and has established a Facebook<\/a> group under the same title, where she shares frequent updates. She is urging everyone to champion their own healthcare, conduct their own investigations and maintain the most positive outlook possible.<\/p>\n “Cancer hates positivity, so I hate cancer, so therefore I am being as positive as I possibly can \u2013 and that alone makes you feel better,” Ruth said. “Your diagnosis doesn’t have to be the end of your life. It might be eventually, but it also might be the reason for living.<\/p>\n “I’ve very much learned you have to live in the moment and I often think of the phrase: ‘Don’t count the days, make the days count’.”<\/p>\n![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_embedded12074506.jpg\")
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