The mother of a 24-year-old that passed away last year has told the Liverpool Echo of her intense grief a year on from her daughter's death. Amelia, 24, from Liverpool, died following a battle with stage 4 bowel cancer in October 2021.
She underwent fertility checks in January 2020, with hopes of starting a family with her partner. Following a series of scans fluid was found on her fallopian tubes, which required keyhole surgery, which was unfortunately put on hold at the start of the national lockdown in March 2020.
During the height of the pandemic Amelia began experiencing severe stomach pains and went to her GP, where she was referred to hospital for a scan, with results finding she had cysts on her ovaries. After at last undergoing the keyhole surgery on December 2 2020, doctors found out that she had cancer following a biopsy.
Amelia was devastatingly told three weeks later that she had stage four bowel cancer which had also spread to her liver. Despite receiving chemotherapy, she died on October 20 2021, and a year on, her mother Therese has said she "still doesn't believe" her daughter has passed away.
She told the ECHO: "It's like the front of my brain knows that it's happened, but the inside doesn't. I still don't believe my daughter is gone, it's too much to bear. When I sit and think this has actually happened for too long, it becomes too much."
Therese, a care worker, has opted to help out families in need of support this Christmas rather than spend it at home. She aims to raise awareness of bowel cancer in young people, with plans to set up a charity to continue Amelia's legacy.
Prior to her death, Amelia told the ECHO: "I don't think people realise what people can go through. I never imagined me getting bowel cancer at 23. The amount of people I've had messaging me since I put my story on Facebook asking about symptoms they've had.
"You don't realise how many young girls are going through stuff, I think a lot of us just put it down to girl problems."
Therese added: "I think Amelia's death was avoidable, she had the symptoms and went to the doctors but lockdowns made it more difficult. People kept saying she was too young to have cancer, but there's no such thing as too young."
Therese is currently searching for businesses or charities to help set up her campaign, whether that be through funding or engagement with young people. She can be contacted on tessg72@outlook.com or on Facebook here.
The NHS said symptoms of bowel cancer include one of the following in 90% of cases:
- a persistent change in bowel habit – pooing more often, with looser, runnier poos and sometimes tummy (abdominal) pain
- blood in the poo without other symptoms of piles (haemorrhoids) – this makes it unlikely the cause is haemorrhoids
- abdominal pain, discomfort or bloating always brought on by eating – sometimes resulting in a reduction in the amount of food eaten and weight loss
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