A 57-year-old special education teacher from England deemed “fit and healthy” by those around her is now advised to receive end-of-life care after being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. What makes her story even more alarming is that her only warning sign was an unusual symptom most people would not associate with cancer.
Though the heartbreaking diagnosis came as a sudden blow to Karen Kennerley from Lancashire, England, she is determined to fight the disease and raise awareness among people about little-known signs of colon cancer.
Colon cancer typically presents with digestive changes like persistent diarrhea, constipation, blood in the stool, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, or bloating. But Kennerley did not have any of these signs. All that she felt before her devastating diagnosis was a symptom that had nothing to do with her gut.
“The scary thing is, I had no symptoms apart from a bit of fatigue,” she said. However, the mother of three who worked at a small school for special education kids thought it was just exhaustion from the work.
“I went to my GP, who ran some blood tests, and referred me for a FIT test and then I was referred for a colonoscopy in January 2023. Everyone was telling me I was fit and healthy, that there was nothing to worry about but they were doing the tests to rule things out,” she recollected.
During a routine colonoscopy, doctors found a seemingly harmless tumor, but their suspicions grew, and a biopsy soon confirmed the worst: it was cancerous. In June 2023, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor along with part of her large intestine, followed by eight grueling rounds of chemotherapy.
Though her cancer was initially believed to be in remission, she was hospitalized in March 2024 with suspected appendicitis. However, scans revealed a devastating turn, her cancer had progressed to stage 4 and spread to the ovaries. The medics then advised her to receive palliative cancer treatments offered through the NHS.
However, Kennerley is now determined to fight as she hopes to receive cancer treatments in Germany that promise her the best chance of survival. She is raising money to fund her treatment.
“People with stage four cancer feel totally abandoned, I want to change that, not only for me but for everyone else going through this,” she added.
