. The 25-year-old content manager was prone to getting a couple of UTIs a year and expected it would go by itself after a week - then when it didn't, she went to her GP for tests. Ellie was surprised to discover that no infection had been detected, and her inflammatory markers were 'extremely high', so she was referred to have an ultrasound in hospital. "When they did the ultrasound, they immediately saw something but they couldn't tell me any more other than there was a 15cm mass in my lower abdomen," she explained. Medics suspected Ellie may have an ovarian cyst, so she was put on the women's health ward. The following morning, she was sedated to have emergency surgery to remove the cyst, but nothing had been taken out when she woke up. "They did a biopsy instead and they suspected that I had pelvic inflammatory disease, they could see a large tumour," Ellie explained. Medics said it look like 'chewing gum on a carpet'. Around a week later, in February 2022, she got the biopsy results and it wasn't good news. "My mum and I went into a room with the doctor and he said I have cancer. I just went into shock - I kept asking him if he was joking," Ellie explained. She was diagnosed with stage four cancer in her bowel, which had spread to her liver, peritoneum and ovaries. "It was the last thing I expected, being so young," Ellie, who lives in Peterborough, said. The next day, Ellie had surgery to form an ileostomy stoma as the tumour was partially obstructing her large bowel. "The success of the stoma surgery instilled some hope into my family," she explained. "But after the surgery they said my cancer was){kind=link}
Ellie Wilcock started with extreme pain in her abdomen and was eventually diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer at the age of 25. Now, she has an important message for other young women
Ellie Wilcock started suffering with ‘extreme pain’ in her abdomen two years ago, but thought ‘nothing of it’ and instead suspected she had just another urinary tract infection (UTI).
The 25-year-old content manager was prone to getting a couple of UTIs a year and expected it would go by itself after a week – then when it didn’t, she went to her GP for tests.
Ellie was surprised to discover that no infection had been detected, and her inflammatory markers were ‘extremely high’, so she was referred to have an ultrasound in hospital.
“When they did the ultrasound, they immediately saw something but they couldn’t tell me any more other than there was a 15cm mass in my lower abdomen,” she explained.