Woman Given Three Months to Live After Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis Is Now in Remission | "It's a Miracle"

A woman who was given three months to live after receiving a cancer diagnosis has a new lease on life after being informed that she is in remission. Caroline Guy, 56, was diagnosed in January 2020 after her cancer spread to her ovaries and liver. A year before, she visited her doctor after complaints of a bloated stomach. Guy was advised that it was most likely due to menopause. According to Manchester Evening News, she shared, "I felt sluggish, I just didn’t feel right. My stomach was swollen, I’d Googled my symptoms and I actually asked him outright if I had bowel cancer, and he said no."

When visiting her husband Adam in Saudi Arabia in January 2020, Guy felt incredibly uneasy. She described her condition by saying, "I was in pain walking, I looked seven months pregnant, and I woke up one night and was violently sick. I just felt horrendous." She decided to visit the doctor once again and underwent a hasty hospitalization and X-ray, MRI, and blood testing. Then she was given the heartbreaking news: stage 4 bowel cancer. She was given just 3-4 months to live. 

Considered inoperable and incurable, she began a chemotherapy regimen, and in September, she returned to Nottingham to visit her daughter, reports BBC. Good news came in when scans later revealed the tumor had shrunk to a stage where she could have surgery. Six weeks after significant surgery at the Queen's Medical Centre, she was told she was in remission! She couldn't believe it! "The surgeon looked at me and said you've got no cancer. I said 'are you sure?' I just couldn't believe it. It's a miracle," she said. Her surgeon Alastair Simpson said, "Caroline had extensive chemotherapy and surgical resection of multiple organs, which is physically demanding but also presents a significant psychological burden and carries the potential for serious complications. Nottingham has an advanced cancer service which is able to coordinate this care and support her through the process. It has been a pleasure to be part of the team to manage her from a life-threatening cancer diagnosis into her current state of remission and surveillance." 

Guy told Manchester Evening News that her medical journey has made her a "stronger person" as she now has a "permanent smile on my face". "I don’t fear anything any more, because nothing can be as bad as being told you have a cancer that is incurable and terminal. I’m a positive person but of course I had those thoughts, so when a surgeon says they are going to operate, and not with a view to extending your life, but to go in determined to cure you, it means everything. I owe them everything," she said.

References:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-told-swollen-stomach-menopause-24225800

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61790431

Representational Cover Image Source: Getty Images | thianchai sitthikongsak