I was diagnosed with cancer aged 39… you are never too rich, too famous or too young, says Dr Philippa Kaye
DIAGNOSED with stage 2 bowel cancer at 39 and with three young children, mum Dr Philippa Kaye knows only too well the devastating impact Princess Kate’s diagnosis will have had on her.
Here the GP explores why cancer cases are rising in the under-50s . . . and what must be done to stem the deadly tide.
CANCER doesn’t care how old you are, what your ethnicity is, or if you are a Royal.
I was shocked and saddened by Princess Kate’s announcement on Friday that she had cancer.
Her bravery will save lives by helping to encourage others to come forward with symptoms.
But it was hearing Kate talk about telling her children that made me hug my kids just a little closer and longer that evening.
I remember only too well how it feels to have to tell your young children that you have cancer.
To try to answer their unanswerable questions, and to attempt to hold their fears and worries at the same time as my own.
I was 39 when I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in May 2019.
It was a lucky find.
My cancer was detected after medics suspected my symptoms were down to scar tissue from previous surgeries.
That early find meant I was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer.
I went on to have surgery and chemotherapy before further lesions were found, requiring surgeries.
Now, after having quite a lot of my bowel removed, I am thankfully cancer-free.
My children were four, seven and 11 at the time, similar ages to George, Charlotte and Louis, and I had to face them asking me if I was going to die.
I learnt to stop promising them I would be there to pick them up from school, and was both relieved and slightly bemused when they carried on just as children do, wondering what was for dinner.
I was surrounded by people who loved me, who wanted to help me, yet I felt entirely alone.
I felt like I was the youngest person in the ICU, in the clinic waiting room, in the chemo suite and at my local cancer support charity.
I was and am a working mother, with a rich, varied and wonderful life, and I didn’t want cancer to come for any of it, even though it tried, and sometimes succeeded.
As a GP, being a doctor was and is a huge part of who I am, and I didn’t want to stop working.
Yet I struggled to know how to manage it and chemo at the same time.
There were financial worries, there were childcare worries and much, much more.
A young adult with cancer may well have different needs to an older adult, with issues around fertility, premature menopause, sex, work and exercise all being important.
Some of these issues are still not discussed enough and all-important support networks can be lacking.
That is where charities such as Trekstock come in, providing support for young adults between the ages of 20 and 40 facing cancer.
As a doctor, I know that cancer can affect people of all ages, even babies.
Yet as a patient, I felt too young.
Nine of every ten people with cancer are 50-plus.
Half of cases are in people aged 75-plus.
But ten per cent of people diagnosed are under 50, and the numbers are rising.
Alongside Her Royal Highness, they include Sun writer and inspirational campaigner Dame Deborah James, The Wanted’s Tom Parker, Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding, A Place In The Sun’s Jonnie Irwin and Strictly’s Amy Dowden.
There is still a view in society, and even among medics, that you can be too young for cancer.
This matters because when it comes to cancer, time is of the essence.
The earlier cancer is diagnosed the less likely it is to spread, making it likely easier to treat and that you will recover.
The Sun’s No Time 2 Lose campaign has been pushing hard to raise awareness of this for years, successfully urging the Government to lower the bowel cancer screening age and urging people of all ages to learn the signs and symptoms of cancer and act on it as early as possible.
Research led by University of Edinburgh showed rates of cancers in under-50s have surged 79 per cent in the last three decades.
Breast cancer accounted for the largest number of cases, but the fastest rise was seen in windpipe and prostate cancers, according to the study published in BMJ Oncology in September.
Lung and bowel cancers were included, too.
And the researchers estimated that the number of new early-onset cancer cases will rise even further, by just over 30 per cent by 2030, and cancer-related deaths by just over 20 per cent.
Adults under the age of 40 were found to be at greatest risk.
It remains the case that most cancers are still diagnosed over the age of 50, so the numbers in the under 50s are still small.
But the trend is important, and behind every statistic are real people dealing with the enormous trauma of a cancer diagnosis.
So why are cancer cases rising in those of us under 50?
Some of it may be that we are better at diagnosing cancer and finding it earlier, but that isn’t enough to explain the increase.
As always in the nature vs nurture debate it is likely to be a bit of both, meaning that both genetics and lifestyle play a part.
Lifestyle factors such as obesity, alcohol and diets high in red and processed meat play a role, and a lack of fruit and vegetables and fibre is also likely to contribute.
Our sedentary lifestyles are also likely to be a cause, as well as smoking.
That said, I do not have obesity, rarely drink, I eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and still, I got cancer.
Mine was found to be related to a genetic mutation which doubles my risk of bowel cancer.
Even though my latest scans and colonoscopy last August were clear, I will continue to have to be assessed annually, because although my cancer was treated, my genes remain and my risk is still double the general population.
We need to urge more young people to take up the offer of preventative measures, like the HPV vaccine and cervical cancer screening, high uptake of which should see cases of cervical cancer plummet or even be wiped out for good, experts predict.
Lifestyle factors such as obesity, alcohol and diets high in red and processed meat play a role, and a lack of fruit and vegetables and fibre is also likely to contribute
Dr Philippa Kaye
We need to see more funding for research that focuses on early detection of cancers, and new ways to pick the disease up in the earliest stages.
We need to keep pushing to lower the bowel cancer screening age.
After The Sun’s No Time 2 Lose campaign, spearheaded by the wonderful Dame Deborah James, called for the bowel cancer screening age to be lowered from 60 to 50, the Government agreed.
That was in the summer of 2018 and screening for those in their 50s only began from 2021, and it won’t be in place everywhere until 2025 — it must be rolled out faster.
And for young adults who are diagnosed with cancer, proving that we weren’t too young, we need to be better at looking after our holistic health and seeking support.
The stark reality is that half of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in our life.
More and more of us are living with cancer, or surviving cancer, but many of us will be left dealing with issues that the disease and its treatment leaves behind.
Early detection and diagnosis are vital, as are more treatments and more research.
But it is also essential that we focus on the unique needs, both physical and mental, of young adult cancer patients.
Hopefully, as science progresses and more and more people survive, there will be an even greater need to understand what it means to be a young adult survivor.
I echo the powerful words of the late Dame Debs, who was a fierce advocate for young adults living with cancer, and I hold on to “rebellious hope” that Kate will be well and cancer-free.
In the Princess’s video on Friday night, she spoke directly to those of us in the cancer community, telling us “you are not alone”.
I do not have obesity, rarely drink, I eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and still, I got cancer.
Dr Philippa Kaye
I send those words right back to her — you are not alone Your Highness.
We young adults in the cancer community understand what you are going through, and we see you.
You have been here for us, we are here for you, and for every young adult plunged into the world of cancer — let’s support each other.
RED FLAGS YOU MUST LOOK FOR AND ACT UPON
THERE are more than 200 types of cancer, each with its own set of symptoms.
A cough lasting three weeks or more is a key sign of lung cancer – the most common cancer in the UK.
Changes to bowel habits lasting more than three weeks, such as diarrhoea, constipation, blood when you poo, or needing to go more often, are signs of bowel cancer, the second most common form of the disease.
There are also common symptoms that can be “red flags” of many forms of cancer, and should always be checked.
They include:
- Weight loss for no obvious reason.
- Pain that is persistent and unexplained, whether it be dull and consistent, or sharp and brief.
- Any lumps, bumps or swellings, such as in the neck, armpit, stomach, groin, chest, breast or testicle.
- Fatigue that makes you feel tired all the time and generally lacking in energy.
- Night sweats that are very heavy or a fever that can’t be explained.
- Changes to the skin, such as puckering on the breast, moles that have changed, very itchy or yellow skin.
- Unexplained bleeding from the bottom or vagina, or blood in urine, semen, stool, vomit or when coughing.