What cancer were you diagnosed with?

Colon cancer

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What age were you diagnosed?

32

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What has helped you to thrive?

Early on it took the mantra of I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

After getting the diagnosis I took to the internet to seek some advice and eventually found Instagram I set up my own little space to document my experiences. You’ll find me over on @boy.vs.cancer. Through that, I’ve met wonderful people and Trekstock. It’s a wonderful outcome of a fairly hard thing to go through.

I also found Gymnastics just before my diagnosis. Having the drive of getting back to it, despite major abdominal surgery, really helped pull me through. It became a place where i could just be me. No cancer, no Chemo, no scans. Just Craig, not Craig with cancer. I still go & I’m working hard. The other thing that helped enormously was getting out for a good walk. it’s a fantastic way to to clear your head, get some fresh air and get the blood pumping. I recommend it for anyone.

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Craig's Story

During the summer of 2018 I started was experiencing abnormal bowel movements and noticed blood in my poo. One day it was particularly bad and i thought to myself “I’ve got a young family and a baby on the way. I can’t really ignore this anymore” After a meeting with my GP, some tests and a bit of nagging, I got sent for a Sigmoidoscopy. I didn’t take long for them to find the tumour sitting in my sigmoid. The official diagnosis came a week later. “I’m sorry Craig, it is cancer” is a phone all I will never forget.

Many meetings followed and surgery was scheduled for October to have a Sub-total Colectomy (removal of entire colon). Thankfully the surgery was successful with keyhole surgery and no need for a stoma. They graded it 3c due to node involvement. After 6 weeks of recovery chemo began on the 2nd of December with 4 courses of Xelox. I did have to have Chemo on Christmas eve, but I wanted to make the best of it. So I put my Christmas jumper on and snuck in mulled wine and mice pies. My second child come just after I finished my third round, it was really tough having a new born while on chemo. But I did it.