A woman has finally been given the green light from cancer, 15 years after being told she only had three to six months left to live.
Darina Eyre, 62, had bowel, liver and lung disease – and was even a day patient at a hospice.
The grandmother-of-one, from Lancashire, was initially diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer in 2004 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy to remove it.
However, he was then told that it had spread to his bloodstream and he might come back.
Four years later, the mother-of-two was diagnosed with liver cancer and told she may only have three to six months to live due to its advanced state.
Doctors then found a cancerous mass in Darina’s lung and she had to undergo another surgery to remove it.
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Her cancer has been monitored ever since, but now, 19 years after her first diagnosis, she must be told that she is finally cured of the disease.
Darina said, “I can’t even describe the relief when the doctors said, ‘Darina, we’re releasing you.
“After the last operation, we were all relieved but we were very skeptical.
“Finally, after 19 years, I was able to call my family and tell them that I was completely free.
“They said knock on wood the cancer won’t come back.”
Her first bowel cancer symptoms appeared a year before her diagnosis, but doctors told her they were caused by a poor diet.
The tumor then burst, causing the cancer to spread through her bloodstream, which is why she’s had cancer so many times.
“As a family we were so heartbroken and angry when I was first diagnosed because I had been to the doctor every few months,” she recalled.
“They just said I had a bad diet, but that was not the case, because I never had a bad diet.
“I wasn’t eating like I do now, which is very conscious, but I was still eating well.
“Now I always tell people if they have bowel cancer symptoms, don’t ignore them and go to the doctor as soon as possible because it could be avoided.”
Her lung cancer diagnosis came just months before her daughter, also called Darina, gave birth to daughter Olivia Grace, now 14.
This made her “determined” to fight the disease.
Darina said: “When my granddaughter was born and I held her in my arms, I swore I would be there for her until I was an old grandmother.
“The relationship I have with her now is absolutely amazing, she calls me her partner in crime and we do a lot of things like go on vacation together.
“Every time I look at her, she reminds me that it’s all in our head and we can decide to keep fighting.”
Darina also thanked the staff at Pendleside Hospice, Burnley, who she said are doing “an absolutely fantastic job” of caring for their patients.
She added: “I will be forever grateful for the days I spent there.”
According to the NHS, the most common symptoms of bowel cancer are:
- Changes in your poop, such as having softer poop, diarrhea, or constipation that isn’t usual for you
- Need to poop more or less often than usual for you
- Blood in your poop, which may look red or black
- Bleeding from your butt
- You often feel like you need to poop, even if you just went to the bathroom
- Stomach pain
- Bloating
- lose weight without trying
- Feeling very tired for no reason.
If you experience any of these symptoms for three weeks or more you should talk to your GP.
Ask for an urgent appointment or call 111 if your poop is black or dark red or you have bloody diarrhea.
Origin of message: Daily Express