At just 26, Charlotte Rutherford faced a life-altering diagnosis of bowel cancer, a tumour so aggressive it obstructed her colon, leaving her in excruciating pain and unable to keep food down.
The harrowing experience, she says, profoundly shifted her perspective, making her realise “how fragile life is” and driving her mission to raise awareness that “this can be happening to young people”.
Now 32, Ms Rutherford was living in Australia in 2020 when she was rushed to hospital, suffering from severe stomach pain, persistent vomiting, and a complete loss of appetite. For approximately 18 months, she had endured intermittent symptoms, but it was only when her condition reached an “emergency state” that a CT scan uncovered Stage 3B bowel cancer. The aggressive tumour had not only obstructed her colon but also spread to her lymph nodes.
Recalling that terrifying period, Charlotte told PA Real Life: “I was told that when I went into hospital the first time in 2020 that I was maybe 48 hours away from my heart just giving up.” The brush with death instilled a profound lesson: “You realise that, really, things can change so quickly – so don’t sweat the small stuff – live life how you want to live.”
Ms Rutherford, now a community manager for the cancer charity Mission Remission and based in Bristol, had been in Australia for three years when her intermittent symptoms – severe stomach pain and vomiting – escalated to a constant crisis in December 2020. She found herself unable to eat, enduring three-hour vomiting episodes post-meals, and experiencing “a really dramatic amount of weight” loss, alongside altered bowel habits. These worrying signs had been present, on and off, for about 18 months.
“At the time I went into hospital, I was so constipated,” Charlotte explained. “But all I can remember is the severe nausea, because, essentially, I was so blocked up and had been for a long time, it was kind of poisoning me.”
Upon admission, a CT scan quickly revealed a critical bowel obstruction, necessitating urgent surgery. Doctors, reviewing the scan, immediately inquired about any family history of bowel cancer.
“I said: ‘I don’t have cancer, do I?’,” she recounted, to which the medical team replied: “‘We don’t know yet, but we’ll find out’.” Within 24 hours of her arrival, on 11 December 2020, Charlotte was in surgery to remove the obstruction for biopsy. Six days later, on 17 December, the devastating confirmation arrived: advanced bowel cancer, estimated by doctors to have been developing for three to five years.
“I had no time to think,” she stated. “I was in Australia, and it was in Covid, so I was on my own in the hospital. To be honest, the thing that was going through my mind because of how unwell I felt… I just thought I was going to die in the hospital.”
The diagnosis was Stage 3B bowel cancer, indicating spread to her lymph nodes. Although the primary tumour and affected lymph nodes were surgically removed, 12 weeks of preventative chemotherapy, administered via drip and oral tablets, were necessary to eradicate any remaining cancer cells. On 6 April 2021, after completing four rounds of treatment, Charlotte received the news she was in remission.
Returning to the UK in April 2021, Charlotte underwent six-monthly scans and blood tests for monitoring. By 2023, aged 29, there had been no sign of recurrence. Her routine scan in February 2023 was approached with unusual calm; she “felt so fit and so healthy, it was probably the scan I went into with the least amount of scan anxiety”. Yet, just nine days later, a call from the hospital shattered her peace.
“They said, ‘Your surgeon would like to see you next week’… I was like, I’ve never been called in before, so that can’t be good news,” she recalled. At the subsequent appointment, Charlotte received the devastating news that the cancer had returned, this time on her lung, leading to a Stage 4 diagnosis as it had metastasised from its original site. “We spoke about treatment options, and normally, the NHS will say that anyone who’s had a recurrence has to have another round of chemo. But I was 29 at the time, and fertility was a really big factor,” Charlotte explained.
She faced a difficult choice: “I essentially had to weigh up whether it meant more to me to not have chemo and protect my fertility, or have chemo and reduce my chance of the cancer coming back.” Due to the tumour’s small size, keyhole surgery was possible in April 2023. Following two weeks of bed rest, she embarked on the slow process of “really slowly and gradually building up my fitness again”. By August 2023, she was once more in remission.
The physical recovery was arduous, particularly the “breathlessness – I couldn’t walk anywhere without being so breathless… It took a long time to build up my fitness again,” she stated. The recurrence itself was a profound shock. “Maybe it was naive, but I really didn’t think I was going to have a recurrence during my remission,” she admitted. “It was a huge shock, because I felt so fit and healthy.”
Battling cancer twice in her late twenties has also exacted a significant emotional toll. “Because I was so young, you’re around an age group where people are progressing with other areas of their life, like buying houses and work and stuff,” she reflected. “You just feel so behind where everyone else is, for something that is just so out of your control.”
With April designated as Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Charlotte is now a vocal advocate, urging both young individuals and medical professionals to recognise the warning signs. The NHS highlights key symptoms: changes in bowel habits, blood in stools (appearing black or red), persistent stomach pain, unexplained weight loss, and bloating. Data from Bowel Cancer UK reveals that over 2,500 people under 50 are diagnosed with the disease annually in the UK.
“There isn’t quite that awareness still that this can happen to young people,” Charlotte stated. “I think that just raising awareness of the symptoms and making sure people have the confidence to get checked if something doesn’t feel right… To not have that immediate thought of: ‘You’re too young to have bowel cancer’ is important.”
This Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Bowel Cancer UK and Takeda UK are highlighting their Stage4You campaign, developed and funded by Takeda UK. Supported by Bowel Cancer UK, the initiative aims to address the unique challenges and unmet needs of those living with Stage 4 bowel cancer. Especially during April, when awareness content is abundant, the campaign encourages “people living with stage 4 bowel cancer to take a self-awareness day, and give themselves permission to step back when disease awareness content feels too much”.
For Charlotte, Stage4You offers crucial support, as it “acknowledges the mental toll of what we’re going through, and gives us that acknowledgement to be able to just take some time, and to see that life doesn’t just go on as normal sometimes”. Reflecting on her journey, she concluded: “I think my whole perspective on life changed (after cancer). I say yes to more things. I make sure that all of the time I have is spent doing things that I actually want to do. I think it shows you how fragile life is.”