Sheffield mum with stomach cancer warns of hidden symptoms

Donna Taylor is working with Sheffield charity Cavendish Cancer Care to raise awareness of stomach cancer

A Sheffield woman has urged people to get checked after a shock diagnosis of inoperable stomach cancer.

Donna Taylor, 45, received the news in September following weeks of exhaustion, loss of appetite and stomach cramps after a summer holiday.

She said she felt "generally rubbish" but assumed it was a tummy bug.

Ms Taylor said tests later confirmed cancer and she is now working with Sheffield charity Cavendish Cancer Care to raise awareness.

After returning from holiday, Ms Taylor went to her GP for tests - and was sent to the Northern General Hospital for an emergency endoscopy.

"I did try and self-medicate over the counter but it continued to get worse over a six-week period," she said.

"The weekend I heard I was away at a spa weekend with the girls," said Ms Taylor, who lives in Ecclesfield.

"We were having a lovely time and I'd got this emergency endoscopy appointment which I obviously didn't want to miss because it was really important to try and work out what was going on."

The appointment involved a long, thin tube camera being inserted down her throat.

"My best friend was with me at the appointment. I said, 'Oh well, we'll go to the Northern, then I'll come back for my massage and we'll have a lovely weekend,' but it didn't actually work out like that."

The single mother of two then had to wait for several weeks for a full cancer diagnosis and was eventually told she had an inoperable tumour in her stomach.

Symptoms 'hidden by IBS'

Chemotherapy started at the end of January to shrink the tumour.

Ms Taylor said she had started working closely with Cavendish Cancer Care to raise awareness and to urge anyone with similar symptoms to get checked, because her condition was hidden by IBS symptoms suffered for years.

According to the NHS, symptoms of stomach cancer include heartburn or acid reflux, problems swallowing, feeling or being sick, indigestion, feeling full very quickly, loss of appetite and weight loss without trying, a lump or pain at the top of your tummy, feeling tired or having no energy.

Ms Taylor said it had "spurred her on" to know her story had already encouraged several people worried about similar symptoms to go to their GP.

"It's motivated me even more that this is the direction I need to be going," she said.