Woman describes her first bowel cancer symptom at 34 - 'unbearable'
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The next few weeks were a "bit of a blur", Kate said. "Our trip was cancelled and instead I attended appointments – CT scans, to see the oncologist, and also to see the
fertility specialists. We had already been trying for a baby for some years and now with chemo looming we decided to go ahead quickly with the first stage of IVF as a fertility preservation
treatment." The chemo Kate was to have can have an unpredictable effect on fertility. She said: "I feel incredibly grateful to the team at Fertility Associates who, over Christmas,
still made it possible for us to successfully go through the first stage of our IVF journey at such short notice." Kate's first chemo session was the 12th January 2018. "I
struggled with side effects, and over the following six months of treatment had many, many ups and downs both physically and emotionally. There were some very long nights lying awake,
terrified of dying and thinking 'why me?' But at some point I realised – why not me? Bad things can happen to anyone." She continued: "I was lucky that I had the
wonderful support of David, and also our families who came from overseas to support us. I was able to take time off work, which was the right thing for me, and learnt a lot about what
matters to me most in life and how to take time to get in tune with what makes me feel good."