{"id":1834,"date":"2025-04-03T04:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T04:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1834\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T04:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T04:24:16","slug":"mum-of-three-struck-with-terminal-bowel-cancer-she-blamed-being-vegetarian-for-her-only-symptom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1834\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum-of-three struck with terminal bowel cancer – she blamed ‘being vegetarian’ for her only symptom"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mother-of-three has told of how her bowel cancer<\/a> went hidden for over a year as she suffered no obvious symptoms.<\/p>\n

By the time 41 year-old Jenny Garner was diagnosed in November last year, the disease had spread to glands in her stomach and was classed as incurable.<\/p>\n

The only sign of the cancer was spotted by chance, during a routine blood donation appointment.<\/p>\n

‘When I went to donate, the blood droplet didn\u2019t sink fully, which was an indicator of low iron, but I had just enough to donate,’ said the community carer from Stockport, Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n

‘I just assumed it’s because I’m a vegetarian<\/a> \u2013 and I was told not to worry.’<\/p>\n

However, the staff at the donation centre recommended she visit her GP for supplements.<\/p>\n

Looking at her medical notes, the doctor realised she’d had low iron levels since December 2023.<\/p>\n

She was subsequently sent for another blood test which revealed\u00a0her iron levels had dropped even lower. This led the GP to suspect she may be suffering\u00a0internal bleeding.<\/p>\n

\"Jenny <\/p>\n

Jenny Garner wouldn’t have learned about her late-stage bowel cancer diagnosis if it wasn’t for the blood donation appointment<\/p>\n

Ms Garner was tasked with a\u00a0faecal immunochemical test (FIT) \u2013 a stool swab that looks for hidden traces of blood which could indicate cancerous growths in the bowel.<\/p>\n

A member of medical staff told her: ‘I don\u2019t think for a second you have cancer, you have no symptoms but we need to rule it out.’<\/p>\n

Shockingly, the results came back positive and she was given an urgent referral to cancer diagnosis services at the local hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The following month, in November, a colonoscopy procedure was performed to look for cancer in the bowel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This involves a thin, flexible tube with a camera attached being inserted into the back passage to capture images of the bowel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doctors found an ‘angry red thing,’ Ms Garner said. ‘And it was bleeding’.<\/p>\n

‘I asked what it was and they said they\u2019ll discuss it with me later. I knew then it wasn\u2019t good.’<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Garner has been told the tumours near her stomach are ‘inoperable’<\/p>\n

Within half an hour she was given the devastating news that she had bowel cancer (also sometimes called colon cancer).\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHS delays meant she was forced to wait two months before undergoing a procedure to remove the tumour, but the operation was deemed successful.<\/p>\n

However within a month there were alarming signs that the ordeal may not be over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After suffering pain near her abdomen she underwent a CT scan which revealed\u00a0enlarged lymph nodes behind her stomach.<\/p>\n

Due to their location, doctors said an operation to remove them would be too risky, and therefore her disease was incurable.<\/p>\n

‘I don’t remember really reacting,’ she said. ‘I was stunned.\u00a0It was totally surreal and it was all a bit of a blur.<\/p>\n

‘This is not something you expect at 41, to be told you haven\u2019t got long left.\u00a0My first thoughts were my children.’<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Garner said her first thought when she was diagnosed was of her three children<\/p>\n

Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n

Ms Garner and her husband Mike, 46, a Navy officer, are now trying to make the most of the time they have left with their children \u2013 Isabelle, 14, Thomas, 11 and Charlotte, ten.<\/p>\n

‘It’s been really hard, Mike has taken it worse,’ Ms Garner said. ‘In his job he solves problems.<\/p>\n

‘If there’s a problem he can\u2019t solve, he finds it really difficult. He has done nothing but non-stop research to see what could help.’<\/p>\n

She is currently undergoing fortnightly chemotherapy sessions and will have another scan in eight to 12 weeks to assess progress.<\/p>\n

The family is also looking into alternative treatments that are not available on the NHS in the hope of a cure, and have set up a fundraiser to help fund it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These experimental treatments include melatonin, used to tackle sleep problems, ivermectin used to treat parasitic diseases, and fenbendazole and mebendazole \u2013 both treatments for worms.<\/p>\n

‘The fact the NHS has turned around and said there’s nothing they can do…,’ she said. ‘They don\u2019t have the money for treatment that may help me… it’s frustrating.<\/p>\n

‘It’s hard even now to believe that this is happening to me \u2013 but I’m not giving up.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mother-of-three has told of how her bowel cancer went hidden for over a year as she suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-1834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114272132427304798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}