My doctor sent me home with painkillers and told me that I ‘had nothing to worry about’. Then I received a devastating diagnosis at just 36

When Kelly O’Donnell could not shake the fatigue, she thought motherhood had just kept his toll.

Recently gestures to her baby daughter, the Queensland Nurse enjoyed what a normal life seemed to be with her family – until she suddenly became seriously ill.

The mother went from ‘healthy, active and full of energy’ to struggling with inexplicable weight lossConstipation and a lack of appetite.

Her doctor initially attributed the symptoms to hemorrhoids or ibs and refers her to a colonoscopy, but she was placed on a long waiting list.

As the months passed, Kelly noticed that she wasn’t improving. She had such an unbearable pain that she could not stand for more than five minutes, but Her worries were rejected.

Her doctor reassured her, there was nothing to worry about, insisting that she was ‘too young’ to have cancer and sent her home With painkillers.

Kelly knew that something was seriously wrong when she started bleeding heavily out of her rectum, so she was taken to the hospital for an emergency colonoscopy.

A week later, Kelly was given a soul reinforced diagnosis that blinded her: Stage four gut cancer That had already spread to her liver.

“I received the worst news of my life … As you can imagine, I was shocked without faith,” Kelly, now 37, told Femail.

For her shock diagnosis, she enjoyed motherhood after welcoming her first child with her partner, who is already a father for two boys, seven and 10 years old.

“The children are my universe,” said Kelly.

Kelly had always done everything well to stay up to date with her health, because she regularly received scans and checks because of her endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

“Apart from Endo and PCOS, I have always been quite healthy, so I would only go to the doctor if I needed it, but I saw a gynecologist twice a year for probably six years before birth,” she explained.

“After I had my daughter, I didn’t see a doctor for a good 12 months until I started to become symptomatic.”

The mother began to notice subtle signs – including extreme fatigue and a lack of energy for no clear reason.

“I assumed that the birth of the child had beaten me a bit and maybe my intestinal health was not great, so I saw a naturopath to try to get back on the right track,” said Kelly.

‘However, I continued to deteriorate for the next 12 months – I lost 10 kg, which is a lot for someone who is Petite and had never been more than 50 kg.

“I was struggling to eat and keep food and was very constipated.”

Her doctor assumed that she had constipation, so he arranged blood tests, and asked for a reference for a colonoscopy in November 2023.

Due to long waiting times in the public health system, Kelly continued her life in the meantime.

Months later, however, she still felt unwell.

“My doctor told me he didn’t think it was cancer when I told him I was worried about that, but he repeated that I was too young and it was probably something else,” she said.

“Then the pain started and I came to a point where I struggled to stand for more than five minutes.”

Her doctor dedicated her to go to a hospital when her symptoms deteriorated and then sent her home with strong painkillers.

Six months later, early May 2024, the mother noticed blood from her rectum in the bathroom.

Kelly went to first aid, but despite the urgency, she only received a colonoscopy 10 days later.

By the time she received the procedure, the mother said she felt that something was ‘seriously wrong’.

“Nine minutes after my colonoscopy they told me they found a tumor in my anal passage,” said Kelly.

“The doctor who performed the colonoscopy said it didn’t look good and from his experience it looked cancer -like, but we should wait and see what the biopsy results showed.”

A week later she returned to the hospital to discuss her results.

“It was then that I received the worst news of my life, I had stage four colon cancer, which had spread to my liver,” said Kelly.

“To my horror, my liver was covered with tumors … I had no idea that something was wrong with my liver.”

When she met her oncologist, he asked her if she wanted to know her prognosis.

“I refused because, regardless of what his opinion was, I would not die, not for a long time,” she explained.

“I would fight with everything I had, I would fight against this terrible disease and I would do that through both medical and alternative therapies.”

After her first round of chemotherapy, Kelly received good news – her tumors shrink.

But after completing 12 weeks of treatment, she was told that chemotherapy had not worked anyway.

“This time the chemo unfortunately did not have the desired effect,” she said.

‘A few weeks after Chemo I started to get serious lower back pain that got worse every day until I presented pain with 11/10 in the hospital and could not stand or walk.

“Recent scans that I had shown a lesion on my sacrum (tail bone) that pushed my nerves and spine, I was pretty empty, but my oncology team assured me five days of radiation would illuminate my pain, so I did.”

The mother completed the radiation only four weeks ago.

“Unfortunately I had a negative reaction to the radiation and I had to be admitted to the hospital because of numbness and tingling along my right side and serious pain,” she said.

“My pain is currently being managed and we are waiting to discuss further.”

Kelly said that she is now following a new naturopathic regime, taking 19 different vitamins and herbs every day, along with three supplements and seven pharmaceutical medicines.

“It’s expensive, but when it comes to your health, you can’t really put a price on it,” she said.

“This has been the most difficult journey of my life, every day is different for me – some days I am happy and positive, other days that my mental health suffers enormously, but I refuse to give up, I have too many to live for.”

Good-hearted friends, family and even strangers have gathered around the mother to raise money for her expensive medical treatments and consultations her ‘world was turned upside down’ by the soul-spoken stage four cancer diagnosis.

‘Kelly is not just a mother; She is the heart and soul of her family. She is a devoted birth mother, a caring stepmother for two beautiful children, and a loving partner for her important other, “her friend Renee wrote on the Gofundme Page She put on herself.

‘Her resilient spirit and reassome dedication to her family are really inspiring. While she is confronted with the most difficult struggle of her life, Kelly needs our help more than ever.

‘Kelly’s struggle is not only against cancer, but also a fight to maintain a sense of normality and stability for her children.

“Your support can help to lift a huge weight of their shoulders, so that they can concentrate on what really matters – spend precious time together as a family and spend this disease with all their strength.”

Kelly wants to break the stigma that cancer only affects the elderly.

“Since my diagnosis I have learned that colon cancer in my age group (30-39) has increased by 209 percent in two decades, so the attached stigma must be stopped,” she said.

‘More awareness and further early tests must be implemented. This can save the lives of so many people. ‘

By sharing her story, she hopes to encourage Aussies to be checked – no matter how small their symptoms seem.

“I think the biggest lesson I have learned is to always listen to your intuition and if you feel that there is something wrong with your body, chances are there,” she said.

‘I just hope that my story can help some people outside of it. If your doctor extracts you, buy a second or even a third opinion if you need.

‘No doctor knows your body just like you. Your health is so important. ‘

According to Barmel Cancer Australia, colon cancer is the fourth most diagnosed cancer and the second deadliest in the country.

Every year it is estimated that more than 14,500 Aussies are diagnosed with colon cancer – making it the seventh most important cause of death in people aged 25 to 44.

If detected early, the chance of successful treatment and long -term survival improves considerably. Up to 99 percent of the cases can be treated successfully when they are detected in the earliest stage.

However, not all colon cancer show symptoms.

But common signs are abdominal pain or bloating, constipation, diarrhea, inexplicable weight loss, fatigue, weakness or breathlessness.