Any bowel cancer recovery stories?

[Worriedaandsad]

My dad (in his early 70s and generally fit and well) has recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Turns out he'd been having tests for a couple of months but didn't tell us until the news was official.
He tells us he's had an MRI scan which showed the cancer hasn't spread and is contained in the bowel.
He starts chemo in 3 weeks to hopefully shrink the tumor. If successful, then the next step will be surgery.
He seems to have acted early on and went to the GP at the first sign of any symptoms. What's the general prognosis if caught early?
I guess I am looking to hear any success stories of bowel cancer patients being successfully cured.
Would love to hear any such stories x

Both my best friend & her mum had bowel cancer. Her mum had it removed surgically my friend had chemotherapy.

Both now absolutely fine & cancer free

That's great news.. I've been worried sick since the diagnosis of my dad, so it's nice to hear some positive outcomes x

Glad to help 😊

Oh and My friends Mum was in her 70s when she was diagnosed. In both cases they caught it quickly. It does seem to have a good success rate if caught early

Hope your Dad is the same x

Caught early it has a very good success rate.

All the best to your Dad OP.x

I know 2 people who have had bowel cancer. I don’t know the exact treatment they had, but they are both fit and well now! Hopefully as it’s been caught early, your Dad will be fine!

I'm sorry to hear about your father, but hope my case gives you some reassurance

I'm in my mid-60's. I didn't have any symptoms but took a routine bowel cancer screening test in late spring last year. The results came back indicating that further investigation was needed, so I went for a colonoscopy in early July and it was obvious even to non-medically trained me that there was a tumour on the screen. Biopsies were taken to check but I was told straight away that it looked cancerous. I was immediately scheduled for a CT scan and then surgery, which I had at the end of August - they removed the left section of my bowel which contained the tumour and rejoined the ends. Analysis of the tumour put me at Stage 2 (T3N0M0, which means it had got into but not through the bowel muscle wall, and not into any nearby lymph nodes or into any other part of my body).

I was originally down to have follow up ('adjuvant') chemo to mop up any stray cancer cells that could be in the blood, but further analysis of the tumour showed a genetic condition that meant this wouldn't have been beneficial. So now I'm just being monitored for the next five years, with three monthly blood tests and a few more colonoscopies down the line I think. I'm fortunate in that I recovered well from the op, didn't need a stoma and my bowels are now back to pre-cancer functionality. .

Bowel cancer is usually very slow growing and easily treated with full recovery if caught early. If you want further information or to hear about more success stories I can recommend these sites, that have reliable up to date info and online community forums for people who are going through or have been through similar experiences.

Bowel Cancer | Bowel Cancer UK
Macmillan Cancer Support | The UK's leading cancer care charity
(1) Bowel (colon and rectal) cancer forum | Macmillan Online Community

I wish you and your father all the best - it's a bit of a roller coaster of a journey but one that you can come out the other side of.

I know several people who have had successful treatment for bowel cancer. Caught early on it is very treatable.

@Worriedaandsad I wish your dad all the best and a speedy recovery

May I ask if they had chemo before their surgery? My dad has been told he needs chemo before surgery but I'm scared that any delay to surgery could spell bad news x

My uncle had his removed surgically in his mid 70s and didn't need chemo or any further treatment. He is fine, I think it's coming up to 7 years now.

My friend had chemo after her surgery. Her Mum had none

My Mum had various symptoms and in 2023 had a colonoscopy and a tumour was found - sigmoid cancer. She had this removed in October 23 and they found that it hadn't spread to anywhere else. She's had a colonoscopy in December 24 and that showed that all was going well and now she just has to keep up with the check ups.

She's 74 now.

Best wishes to you and your Dad - it's a scary time.

My husband had surgery and is now fit and well.

Excuse the username but I just name changed for another thread which I now can't find!

My mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer over 20 years ago, hers was caught early and she had most of her large bowel removed. They originally thought it was another part of the bowel on the CT but it turned out the tumour was so big it caused her large bowel to collapse down so it was actually a different part when they went in to operate.

She's now perfectly healthy and about 10 years discharged after chemo albeit she can't be far from a toilet as basically most of her large bowel was removed but it's a small price to pay!

Wishing your dad a speedy recovery x

Chemo is probably to shrink the tumour before surgery, so the margins are clear.

Cancer is a very individual disease, no two cases are the same. There is no automatic pathway, everyone is different and requires different interventions. It’s good to be informed and gather information, but no one can tell you exactly what each individual path will be.

I hope your father has a good outcome.

I wish your father well.

My MIL was found to have bowel cancer in her late 70s, had it surgically removed and didn’t need chemo. She’s fit and well and cancer free in her 80s now. I do wonder if maybe the bowel cancers in older people are slower growing (and just to say that I’ve got no medical training, it is just a thought) as sadly the people I’ve known be seriously poorly and sadly die of bowel cancer have been in their 40s and 50s.
All the very best to your Dad x

But I also appreciate that early diagnosis is a big factor in this too x

My aunt had bowel cancer when she was 82. She had lost tons of weight by the time it was diagnosed.
She was all ready to think that was the end for her but the doctor said, hang on we can sort this.
She was already in poor health as she had diabetes, copd, high blood pressure and limited kidney function.
Despite this she came through surgery really well and after one day post surgery in high dependency she quickly recovered and was home a week later.
She was lucky not to need chemotherapy, partly due to the location of the cancer and because they were confident all had been removed, but partly because her doctor really didn’t want to use chemo unless no other option because my aunt was extremely against it.
Anyway, she lived until she was 92 and it never came back at all and she put her weight back on and had a great quality of life.

My mum had bowel cancer a few years ago at age 82- made a full recovery after surgery and chemo. Friend's Dad a similar story at age 85. Good luck with your Mum .

P00hsticks · Today 23:22
hi can I ask is it lynch syndrome you have?
I had bowel cancer in august 2023. Then it spread to my ovary. I had it removed and my ovary’s. All clear now.

@Scottishbagpipelady Potentially, yes. The initial histology of the bowel tumour indicated MSI-H (microsatellite instability) , which is a potential indicator of Lynch Syndrome ,so I've been referred to the genetics team, have completed a family history questionnaire and am waiting to have the blood tests to confirm if I have it or not.

Another indicator is that the initial CT scan to stage the bowel cancer flagged up that I had a thickened uterus, and when this was followed up after my bowel cancer surgery I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer too, so had a hysterectomy + tubes & ovaries removed at the start of this year. (as you probably know, Lynch syndrome comes with an increased risk of bowel, endometrial and ovarian cancer).

Yep
Had symptoms – saw the GP – referred to consultant – had an X-ray, CT scan, MRI scan, PET scan and blood tests.

Put on Chemotherapy (‘orrible) – another CT scan at the end, bowel tumour had shrunk.

Had bowel surgery (bowel resection) – tumour removed - another CT scan – cancer had spread to liver.This meant I had ‘Stage 4 cancer’ (because it had spread).

Put back on Chemotherapy (‘orrible) – another CT scan at the end, liver tumour had shrunk.

Had liver surgery – tumour removed – another CT scan – no problems.
Put back on Chemotherapy (‘orrible) as a ‘belt and braces’ approach to mop up any remaining cancer spots – another CT scan at the end – no Cancer spots – blood tests clear.

I’m now in remission having a CT scan every 3 months.

Sorry to type out all my medical history.

He seems to have acted early on ... – excellent, excellent

Hope this helps - best wishes.

You don't say exactly whereabouts in the bowel the tumour is, but as other people have said, all cases are different, and depending on exactly where it is sometimes they will do chemotherapy or radiotherapy first to reduce the size of it.

When they do the surgery they need to be sure that they have 'clear margins' round the tumour to make sure that they get rid of all the cancer and don't leave anything behind.

Each case is discussed at an MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting attended by the radiotherapists, oncologists, colorectal surgeons and they wil lagree what is the best order for things to be tackled to produce the best outcome - trust them.

Thank you to everyone who has kindly answered my post. Sorry for taking so long to log back on, it's been an emotional few weeks.
My dad tells me that the tumour is at one end of his bowel (rather than in middle or in a more awkward to reach position). He started his chemo this week (Wednesday). He developed a sore throat straight away (sounded like he was coming down with the flu), but apparently this is a normal reaction. Over the last 2 days the chemo tablets (part of a 12 week course) have been making him sick. Is this normal? I know he's been given some anti-sickness medication to help combat this.
Is is normal to experience sickness and STILL have successful chemo? Would love to hear from anyone who suffered sickness from the chemo but still had success in beating the cancer. Thank you and best wishes to all of you lovely people who have kindly shared your stories. It gives me strength and hope xx.

Chemo often makes people very sick. My mum was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. (She ignored her symptoms for a couple of years.) She had surgeries and chemo, and was horribly sick. She's been in remission for over two years now. Bowel cancer caught early as your dad's has been is very treatable.