A mum-of-three was shocked to discover she was suffering from stage four bowel cancer – after doctors told her she had a urine infection. Zoe Gardner-Lawson, 36, suddenly began to feel a constant dull pain in her lower back, in August. Her GP diagnosed her with a UTI, and prescribed her five days’ worth of antibiotics.
But after the pain refused to go away, Zoe went straight to A&E to find out what was going on – but her condition was deteriorating, and doctors didn’t know why. In October, a CT scan revealed an 5cm tumour on her bowel. Now, Zoe is on her fifth round of chemotherapy – and hopes the minimum age for bowel cancer screenings will one day drop to “at least” 30.
Zoe, an HR head-of-department, from Bracknell, Berkshire, said: “If my disease was caught earlier, it would’ve been easier to treat… I think the minimum age for testing needs to reduce. My professor, Prof. Jamie Murphy, told me that I could’ve been living with this tumour for up to four years before my diagnosis – that’s terrifying.
“If all goes well, I still have a chance at achieving a ‘no evidence of disease’ status, but it all depends on these next couple of years. I’m young enough that they’re not considering it a terminal diagnosis just yet.”
Zoe Gardner-Lawson with husband Sam and kids Leo, Izzy and Odin
Despite feeling “fit and healthy” previously, Zoe began experiencing a constant dull sensation in her lower back. She didn’t like going to the GP and rarely felt anxious about her health, but on August 26, decided to book a phone appointment with her doctor. Zoe was told she may have a UTI, and prescribed her with a week’s worth of antibiotics.
When the feeling didn’t go away, she was prescribed two further doses across one month. “There was just no change – and by my third dose, I’d really deteriorated,” she said. “I was basically bedridden – I felt so unwell, and the back pain had spread to my abdomen, too.”
She had another appointment with her GP on September 19, who advised her to go straight to A&E. Doctors checked Zoe’s symptoms and gave her a physical examination, concluding she may have kidney stones. But a CT scan confirmed this wasn’t the case – and she was referred to a different department for some blood tests.
“My blood was checked for infection markers, called creatine reactive protein,” she added. “They were rising, until they reached 364n/mol – a normal range for women is 52.9n/mol and 91.9n/mol. A general surgeon came to see me, and he said it looked like I had fluid build-up on my abdomen.
“I threw my toys out the pram then, I told them I wasn’t going to leave until I had a full-body CT.”
Zoe underwent a CT scan, and an hour later, she was visited by another consultant. He told her she had a perforation on her bowel and needed to be admitted, immediately. A second opinion noticed she had a lime-sized tumour on her bowel causing the perforation, and had spread to her liver, peritoneum and stomach lymph nodes.
Zoe said: “I transferred to the Cleveland Clinic [St John’s Wood, London] to continue my treatment. I saw prof. Jamie Murphy and had a consultation with him – he proposed a plan for me. I needed emergency surgery to remove the tumour on my bowel, get rid of all the fluid and waste which seeped out, and then re-evaluate.”
Zoe Gardner-Lawson was shocked to discover she was suffering from stage four bowel cancer
The operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible, and the fluid, went ahead on October 3, and lasted four hours. A biopsy revealed the tumour was a cancerous blastoma – one of the most aggressive forms of cancer – and Zoe was told she’d need to triple her chemo dosage per round. “I’ve tolerated it as well as anybody can, it’s pretty hardcore,” she said.
“I’m on round five of eight in total – it’s three chemo drugs per round. I’ve admitted myself to a natural remedies clinic, to balance it out with IV vitamin C infusions and mistletoe injections – as well as diet and exercise guidance. I’ve basically just taken the approach to throw the kitchen sink at it; improve my prognosis as much as possible.”
Zoe says if she’d been offered a faecal immunochemical test [FIT] earlier, doctors may have caught her cancer years ago. She believes the age for standard testing should be lowered to “at least” 30, if not 25. For now, she says her prognosis isn’t certain – and doctors are waiting to see tumour shrinkage from her chemotherapy.
“The plan is, once I’ve had my sixth round of chemo, they’re hoping I’ll have responded well,” she added. “All being well, I’ll need to be booked in for a second surgery – to remove remaining stomach lymph nodes and two tumours on my liver.”
Zoe’s GoFundMe link, to fund her alternative treatment and alleviate financial worries, is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/zoe-gardnerlawsons-medical-fund