In 2023, 47-year-old Susan Schmidt, a mother of two from Australia, received devastating news: she had stage 4 bowel cancer. The diagnosis came after months of subtle symptoms she initially brushed off — a delay she now warns others to avoid.
Breaking the taboo
“Strange” and “subtle” — that’s how Susan describes the early signs of her illness. Bowel health, she says, is often treated as a taboo subject, leaving many people unaware of what’s normal and what’s a warning.
“I didn’t talk about my bowel habits — who does?” she told Daily Mail. “That’s part of the problem with bowel cancer. People don’t raise the alarm early enough.”
The warning signs she ignored
Before her diagnosis, Susan noticed persistent fatigue, constipation, and severe pain. Blood in her stool? None. Her first red flag was relentless tiredness, which started about four months before her diagnosis.
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