A terminally ill mum refused to accept her doctor's diagnosis after her stage four cancer was misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Having undergone changes in her bowel movement and suffered weeks of regular bleeding, Linzi Page decided to visit her doctors in January 2018.
The 36-year-old was told she probably had IBS by the GP, who went on to give her routine blood tests and took a stool sample, both of which showed nothing irregular.
Mrs Page claimed the medical professionals were "very dismissive".
After three months of feeling something wasn't right she returned to the Burntisland Medical Group surgery in Fife.
Ex-Downing Street aide jailed for raping woman during Edinburgh Festival
This time a different doctor sent her for an urgent colonoscopy.
Just four days later Mrs Page was told she had stage 4 metastatic bowel cancer and was given a maximum of just two years to live.
She said: “Probably typical of everyone who is at a young age - the doctor was very dismissive.
“They said ‘it’s probably IBS’ - then they did the routine blood test and took a stool sample, then it was all forgotten about.
New mum found dead on hospital floor with days old baby underneath her
"I just knew myself that something wasn’t right. I still had bleeding, there was too much blood and I was the one who pushed for further tests.
“I went back to my GP in April and told them ‘this just doesn’t feel right at all and I just don’t buy that it’s IBS’."
Mrs Page, who has a five-year-old son Calan and two-year-old Charlotte, said she dismissed cancer as a possibility at first because it had not been mentioned by the medical professionals.
Now she is crowdfunding to raise £22,000 to pay for intraveanous treatment Avastin which is not available on the NHS in Scotland.
The drug costs around £2,200 for each cycle.
Woman's easy hack for cleaning white shoes - and the transformation is amazing
So far she has raised £11,950 and will begin her first treatment in April.
Mrs Page added: “My frustration is with the doctors, it doesn’t enter their head - if you’re young they just think it’s IBS, that’s their first reaction.
“They never consider the possibility that it could be bowel cancer and decide to send you for a colonoscopy.
“If I went when I was 60 they would have sent me for a colonoscopy right away, but when I presented these symptoms at age 35 that’s not the doctors initial reaction.
New mum burnt with cigarettes, beaten and bitten in sickening attack over a 'tab'
"Unfortunately, by the time younger people do get diagnosed because we go through the process - it’s too late for us.”
As she continues to fight the disease Mrs Page plans to spend the time she has left with her husband Mark and their two children.
Dr Chris McKenna, medical director of NHS Fife, said: “We are unable to comment on the care of individual patients for reasons of confidentiality.”
