'I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 25. It helped save my brother’s life.'

When Renee suddenly started feeling sick in 2019, cancer was the furthest thing from her mind. 

She was a typical 25-year-old living in Brisbane. She worked a retail job, lived out of home and thought her 30th birthday would be the next major milestone in her life.

But when she started experiencing stomach cramps and regularly throwing up in March of that year, it was clear something was wrong. 

"It was obviously really concerning because it was getting to the point where I wasn't able to keep many things down… I thought, why am I sick all of a sudden? I don't know what this is?," she told Mamamia. 

Unfortunately, frequent trips to the GP didn't provide any clear answers, and saw Renee receive a rotation of different pain medications to treat what her doctor suspected may have been irritable bowel syndrome or a possible blockage. 

Renee didn't realise how serious her health condition was until a customer pointed out how she looked one day at work.  

"They said, 'You've lost a lot of weight, and you're looking quite pale'," she recalled. 

"I said, 'I'm not really feeling great.' And she's said, 'Yeah, something's not right'... And she was right."

The next day, Renee woke up in "extremely agonising pain" and rushed to the emergency department.

There, doctors told her she was likely experiencing a blockage and she was given pain relief. When it didn’t work, they decided to keep her in overnight and give her an X-ray. 

The next day, after a subsequent CT scan, she found out the results. 

"They said, 'We've found this dark cloud here. We're not really too sure what it is... but it most likely will be cancer.'"

The news took a while to sink in for Renee, who had rung her dad and step-mum to join her at hospital. 

"It didn't quite hit me, because I was just more concerned about the pain stopping," she shared. 

If anything, she actually felt relieved. 

"My parents started crying and breaking down. But I was like, 'No, this is this is good news. This is good, guys. We know what it is now. So we can get rid of it.'"

The image doctors drew to explain what they believed was happening in Renee's body and where the tumour was located. Image: Supplied.

Still, being 25 it wasn't a situation she thought she would have found herself in. 

"I just thought, I'm too young for cancer, I wouldn't have that. And just kind of brushed it off [as a possibility]."

"Even my GP thought, 'you can't be having cancer, you're too young'."

After sharing the news of the suspected cancer, the doctor asked Renee if she had any history of bowel cancer in her family. 

Renee was confident - there was none. 

But her dad interjected and said while there was none on his side, there may be a history on her mother's. 

Having not spoken to her mother in years following her parents' divorce, Renee agreed it was best to call her mum to find out. 

There, sitting in a hospital bed while talking on loud speaker, Renee's mum proceeded to tell her and the doctors in the room, about their family history of bowel cancer over the phone. 

"It turns out her cousins, her uncle, her father, and a lot of people in the family actually had bowel cancer... so it was a big thing to discover."

Renee also learned her mum was regularly having polyps removed from her bowel. 

"She was already under surveillance for juvenile polyposis, which is what they believe I had, that caused one of [my polyps] to turn cancerous."

From there, things moved quickly. The next day, Renee went in for surgery to have the tumour removed.  

"It was very hard to wrap my head around [what was happening]... But I thought, well, it's completely out of my hands. I just have to do what I can with whatever comes from it."

During the surgery, doctors removed the main tumour from her bowel. And out of the 52 lymph nodes they took around the safe area of the tumour, two of them came back positive, meaning she would need chemotherapy. 

Being a stage three tumour, Renee says said she was lucky as "it’s very, very likely most people aren't successful with removals" at that stage. 

After recovering from surgery, she started chemotherapy. 

For the next 12 weeks, she underwent four cycles, which involved intravenous chemotherapy and tablets. 

While Renee was grateful she didn't lose her hair, the chemotherapy did affect her body in other ways - her hands and feet would easily dry out and crack, it was painful to hold anything cold and she would throw up for hours after each cycle. 

Still, when she looks back, there are clear silver linings that have come from her cancer diagnosis. 

Shortly after hearing the news, her younger brother and sister decided they too would get tested for genetic markers for the disease. 

While her sister was all clear, the results came back positive for her brother, Zac, who was 21 at time. 

"They gave him a colonoscopy just to check if there's anything in there. And he had the worst amount of polyps they've seen in someone his age, which was quite intense."

But with "no symptoms", Zac wouldn't have ever known. And it was good timing, doctors caught it when they did. 

"The polyps were only two months or so away from possibly turning cancerous," Renee explained.

"[Doctors] were very, very concerned that had it not been detected, it was likely they would have turned. So we stopped him getting to the point of being diagnosed [with cancer].

It's for this reason, Renee, who is now 29, says she's almost grateful she ended up having cancer. 

"When I see him, I think 'I'm so lucky. Isn't it awesome that even though what I went through was awful and unpleasant, it was worthwhile?'" 

"I like to think in a way I saved my brother's life."

Zac feels equally as thankful that he was alerted to it. 

"He keeps saying, 'if you hadn't had that happen, how would they have found mine?' We would have never checked for it... and if we didn't, the 'what if' of it could have been a really terrible scenario."

In May 2021, Zac underwent surgery and had most of his bowel removed. 

Two years on, he's in good health and the chances of the polyps coming back are "unlikely". 

Renee says was helpful for her brother to know someone who's been through a similar experience. 

"We've become really close and we often joke about who's had the biggest surgery and it's kind of like our little inside competition of who gets the most tests... And I think for him too, he's always felt because I came through it, that he will be okay as well. And I like that's given him a bit of hope."

Renee and her brother Zac. Image: Supplied.

In October 2019, after three months of chemotherapy, Renee's tests came back clear and there was no cancer detected. 

"I thought this is awesome. I was very positive about it."

Her last colonoscopy check six months ago also came back clear. 

However, she says there's still a concern in the back of her mind that the cancer could return. 

"It's always like a lingering cloud or a thought in the back of your head, and some days it definitely overwhelms you. There's days where all of a sudden, I'll just be breaking down crying over it... it just kind of hits you."

Still, she focuses on the positives. 

Not only did her diagnosis help her brother, but Renee has also rekindled her relationship with her mum, who has been supportive throughout her cancer journey. 

"We are probably closer now than ever before," she said. 

Renee and her mum. Image: Supplied.

Renee has also become a co-chair of the youth advisory board for Queensland Youth Cancer Services, where's she's been able to advocate for young people with cancer.

In sharing her story, Renee hopes it encourages others to have open conversations and learn more about what health issues run their family. 

"A really big part of this comes down to knowing your family history, and now that we're advancing in medicine, if you can get the option to do genetic testing do it, even if you, yourself or previous family members haven't had cancer."

She also wants to break the stigma that cancer, particularly bowel cancer, is "an old person's disease".

"A lot of young people assume that it won't happen to us, because of our age... [But] you're obviously never too young for cancer, regardless of what it is."

A recent report has shown a 370 per cent rise in cases of bowel cancer in adolescents and young people. Canteen Australia are calling for funds for vital research to understand why. To show your support, head to donate.canteen.org.au

Feautre Image: Supplied.