A gynaecologist who found out that she had stage 4 colon cancer herself is now working to raise awareness about the two "mild" signs that alerted her to her own illness.
As the heaviness morphed into feeling like a "pelvic mass", she swiftly booked an ultrasound. The scan revealed oversized masses next to her ovary, reports the Mirror. By September 2022, she found herself in surgery to remove the masses that had invaded her ovaries, uterus, omentum, appendix, and even the abdominal wall. Despite the aggressive expansion of the tumours, she experienced no severe symptoms, with only a sense of "pelvic heaviness" and fatigue, which she attributed to her busy life as a mother of two young children, breastfeeding, disrupted sleep, and full-time work commitments, rather than suspecting a serious health issue.
Dr Juyia was finally diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and embarked on a six-month course of chemo, managing to keep working during this time as she found it helped distract her from her health troubles. She shared that aiding her patients served as a form of therapy, helping her "forget was ill".
In the UK, bowel cancer screening is accessible to anyone aged between 60 and 74, with plans currently under way to include everyone between ages 50 and 59. However, Doctor Juyia emphasises that those below the screening age which stands at 45 in the US - should still be vigilant of their symptoms, warning they could prove risky if overlooked.