{"id":565884,"date":"2025-11-12T17:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/565884\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:26:17","slug":"the-doctor-told-me-i-was-too-young-to-have-bowel-cancer-at-21-he-was-wrong-milli-was-fobbed-off-by-gps-13-times-now-as-cases-soar-she-reveals-symptoms-that-must-never-be-ignored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/565884\/","title":{"rendered":"The doctor told me I was too young to have bowel cancer at 21. He was WRONG: Milli was fobbed off by GPs 13 times… now as cases soar she reveals symptoms that must never be ignored"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over and over again, from the age of 19 to 21, Milli Tanner would hear the same words: \u2018You\u2019re just too young to have bowel cancer<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

She would visit the GP an astonishing 13 times over the course of two and a half years with abdominal pain, exhaustion and bleeding every time she went to the loo. And yet not even a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), to detect blood in the stool, was ordered \u2018because of my age\u2019.<\/p>\n

When she took herself to A&E, at her wits\u2019 end and increasingly ill, she heard the same thing. On one occasion she even asked for a second opinion, and, after a wait: \u2018The doctor came back into the room and said: \u201cRight, I\u2019ve just spoken to another A&E department. You\u2019re just too young. Are you happy?\u201d and sent me on my way,\u2019 she recalls<\/a>. As her symptoms grew worse, the official diagnoses stayed the same. At 19, she had \u2018possibly had too much to drink on a night out\u2019 and the alcohol<\/a> had irritated the lining of her stomach. Later: \u2018I was repeatedly told it was \u201cjust piles\u201d, \u201cirritable bowel syndrome [IBS]\u201d or \u201clinked to my periods\u201d. I knew it wasn\u2019t and, while I was being told that I was \u201ctoo young\u201d to have bowel cancer, it was spreading,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

Indeed, weeks after that A&E visit, 30 months since her symptoms began, she was finally diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes. It was November 2023. Milli had just turned 22.<\/p>\n

Of course she is angry at the time it took \u2013 yet in some ways she is also an important lesson for the medical profession. Bowel cancer is exceptionally rare in young people, but it\u2019s not as rare as it was. And in England, rates are rising faster than almost anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018The <\/p>\n

\u2018The doctor came back into the room and said: \u201cRight, I\u2019ve just spoken to another A&E department. You\u2019re just too young. Are you happy?\u201d and sent me on my way,\u2019 Milli Tanner recalls<\/p>\n

Those doctors who thought Milli was too young were wrong, but the textbooks they\u2019d read as medical students no doubt assured them they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Every year in the UK, 2,110 teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 are diagnosed with cancer. But the latest government figures, from 2017, show fewer than 2 per cent have bowel cancer (and it\u2019s so rare in the under-15s, there are no official figures at all). That\u2019s fewer than 40 people per year.<\/p>\n

And yet since the early 1990s, rates of bowel cancer among the age group 0 to 24 have increased by a huge 74 per cent, much more than in older demographics. A study funded by Cancer Research shows 12 different cancers are increasingly found in young people, but bowel cancer is spearheading the early-onset trend. And it\u2019s the trend that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Just a little bit older, and the figures become even starker: the number of people aged 20 to 29 being diagnosed with colorectal cancers is rising by almost 8 per cent per year. What\u2019s more, a study by Cancer Research shows that England has experienced the fourth fastest rise in the rate of bowel cancer among the under-50s in the world.<\/p>\n

Early theories for the rise include childhood exposure to a toxin produced by the bacteria E-coli, and western diets high in red meat and ultra-processed foods. It\u2019s a fact that those born in 1980 have a higher risk of early-onset cancer than those born in 1970, those born in 1990 a higher risk still, and so on.<\/p>\n

What Milli shows is that teenagers do get bowel cancer and doctors are likely to see more of them.<\/p>\n

Since her diagnosis she has had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery and has a permanent stoma.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m angry that a lot of what I\u2019ve been through could have been avoided if I\u2019d just been listened to sooner,\u2019 she says. Now 24, she lives with her partner Tom, 34, in Evesham, Worcestershire, and to look at her \u2013 a radiant picture of health \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t guess any of it. Yet as she discusses the repeated failures of care, her manner has a world-weariness older than her years.<\/p>\n

For her, the worst of it is the effect it may have had on her chances of becoming a mother. Despite having eggs retrieved before treatment, the impact of radiotherapy on her womb may rule out pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve always been maternal \u2013 I have three younger sisters and love children \u2013 so the thought of being infertile is just heartbreaking,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\"Indeed, <\/p>\n

Indeed, weeks after that A&E visit, 30 months since her symptoms began, she was finally diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer<\/p>\n

\u2018When I learnt this was a possibility, I felt so bad I told my mum I wanted to take my own life.\u2019<\/p>\n

Milli was offered counselling to help her cope with these feelings, but didn\u2019t feel ready, though she is now on a waiting list. She is also awaiting an endoscopy to verify the condition of her uterus lining.<\/p>\n

While being robbed of the chance of motherhood is now her greatest fear, she is aware that, were it not for her persistence in getting a diagnosis, she might not be here at all.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most remarkable part of her story is that \u2013 despite classic symptoms of bowel cancer, including opening her bowels up to ten times a day and passing blood clots when she did \u2013 she wasn\u2019t even offered a FIT test until the end of her two-and-a-half year attempt to get answers. This is an at-home test everyone over 50 is routinely given every two years in the UK.<\/p>\n

Milli was referred for an ultrasound to check for gallstones and to a physiotherapist for back pain but was told she was \u2018too young\u2019 for the tests that would have properly investigated the issues she had.<\/p>\n

Even when she ordered a private FIT test online and went back to her GP with results inevitably showing the presence of blood in her stool, still no urgent steps were taken.<\/p>\n

\u2018Even then, I was told they had to follow the NHS guidelines and couldn\u2019t put me forward for an urgent colonoscopy because of my age,\u2019 says Milli. \u2018This meant I was on a 60-week wait list. I couldn\u2019t wait that long, so I rang up every day trying to get them to put me forward for an earlier one.\u2019<\/p>\n

She was told to \u2018go to A&E if the bleeding gets worse\u2019, which it did, but even there her symptoms were ignored.<\/p>\n

Finally, in November 2023, after more pleading from Milli, her GP practice did its own FIT and she was referred for an urgent colonoscopy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Very soon into the procedure, I saw this mass in my rectum and asked: \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d\u2019 she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u2018The doctor said: \u201cIt\u2019s a tumour.\u201d And I said: \u201cIs it cancer?\u201d All she said was: \u201cI\u2019m really sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Milli <\/p>\n

Milli in hospital with her partner Tom, whom she now lives with in Evesham, Worcestershire<\/p>\n

\u2018I can\u2019t remember much else after that, everything was a blur, until I was back on the ward and a nurse was asking if I\u2019d like my partner to be there when I spoke to the doctor.<\/p>\n

\u2018I messaged Tom saying: \u201cCan you come in and, just be prepared, it\u2019s not good news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018When he arrived, the doctor took us into an office and told us [it was cancer]. Tom broke down in tears. I\u2019d never seen him cry before and that was the first time I cried too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Since then there have been many tears shed, most, says Milli, about the impact on her fertility. \u2018I\u2019ve cried with everyone: my surgeon, my oncologist, the colorectal nurses, people from Teenage Cancer Trust, who have really supported me, family, friends, strangers,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

After the gastroenterologist confirmed the tumour was cancerous, Milli messaged her parents, former nurses who run a cafe in Evesham, to tell them the devastating news.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mum told me afterwards that they both stood in the cafe kitchen in tears, before telling the customers they had to close,\u2019 says Milli. \u2018Tom and I went to my parents\u2019 from the hospital. No one knew what to do, so we just sat, talking and crying.<\/p>\n

\u2018My dad was really angry that it could have been caught much earlier. I was too numb to feel much at that point. I wasn\u2019t shocked by the results \u2013 I\u2019d known for a while, deep down, I had bowel cancer \u2013 so there was a sense of relief that, finally, my fears were being taken seriously.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tests revealed the cancer was stage three and had spread to lymph nodes. Now there were nine gruelling months of treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and finally \u2013 in August 2024 \u2013 surgery at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, to remove the tumour, lymph nodes, and her rectum.<\/p>\n

Her recovery took months. \u2018I really, really hated having a stoma at first, and had a lot of accidents, which was horrible,\u2019 says Milli. \u2018After a lot of trial and error, I\u2019ve now learnt to have spare bags and clothes with me when I go out.\u2019<\/p>\n

In May this year, nine months post-op, a CT scan, followed by a colonoscopy, confirmed the cancer was gone. After her diagnosis, Milli\u2019s GP tried to get in touch. Milli told her she didn\u2019t want any further contact and was moved to another doctor in the practice.<\/p>\n

\"'"What <\/p>\n

‘”What were you eating? Do you eat this or that?\u201d which comes across as victim-blaming. Regardless of what I ate, I didn\u2019t need to be left for two-and-a-half years dealing with it’<\/p>\n

Her MP contacted the hospital to complain about the A&E doctor who had told Milli she was \u2018too young\u2019 to have bowel cancer.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not sure who it was who responded, but we did get an apology for that,\u2019 she says. \u2018Though no one has apologised for the two-and-a-half year delay in me getting a diagnosis.\u2019<\/p>\n

It would be easy to imagine this is an isolated case, but Teenage Cancer Trust says the issues Milli faced are widespread.<\/p>\n

Amy Harding, the charity\u2019s director of services and impact, says: \u2018Milli\u2019s story, although extreme, is sadly not unique. We know from recent evidence and through the young people we support that far too often the path to a diagnosis is challenging, traumatic and too long for young people.\u2019<\/p>\n

The charity is calling for the National Cancer Plan for England, a government strategy to improve prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and care, to include actions to speed up diagnosis for teens and young people. There\u2019s another sting in the tail for Milli, however. Since she told her story, she has been hurt by online commentators questioning whether she brought the cancer on herself through a poor diet.<\/p>\n

\u2018People have asked, \u201cWhat were you eating? Do you eat this or that?\u201d which comes across as victim-blaming,\u2019 she says. \u2018Regardless of what I ate, I didn\u2019t need to be left for two-and-a-half years dealing with it, unsupported.\u2019<\/p>\n

And, of course, the trolls are missing the point. The diet that might have something to do with the rise in cancer cases isn\u2019t confined to one person. We all eat it. Very few countries in the developed world are not seeing a rise in early-onset bowel cancer.<\/p>\n

Milli tells me she has always eaten a \u2018balanced diet\u2019, including fruit and vegetables, while junk food \u2018wasn\u2019t a big part of my life\u2019.<\/p>\n

There are genetic conditions, such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and Lynch syndrome which can cause bowel cancer at a young age, but they account for only 5 per cent of cases.<\/p>\n

Milli has no family history of bowel cancer but has been told by an oncologist there could still be a genetic link, even if she is the first to develop it.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m angry that a lot of what I\u2019ve been through could have been avoided,\u2019 she tells me. \u2018But I want to direct that into helping raise awareness among other young people \u2013 and doctors \u2013 that you really can have cancer in your teens and early 20s, and that symptoms must be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

\u2018If me talking about what I\u2019ve been through helps others avoid the same fate, some good will have come of it.\u2019<\/p>\n

teenagecancertrust.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over and over again, from the age of 19 to 21, Milli Tanner would hear the same words:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,393,368,105,388,169252,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-565884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-femail","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-lifestylefitnesswellbeing","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115537903579746319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565884","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=565884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}