An Australian mother, aged 39, has shared the critical symptom she overlooked while living with terminal cancer. In May 2023, Krystal Maeyke received a diagnosis of stage four metastatic bowel cancer, leaving doctors with no curative options for her condition.
Initially, Krystal dismissed severe stomach pains as a potential food allergy. These pains persisted in her lower abdomen for three months, intensifying to the point where they caused her immense agony.
“At first I thought I would get checked for food intolerances. As I was fit and healthy, exercising daily and eating a wholesome balanced diet,” Krystal explained on her TikTok channel.
“Tests came back negative to gluten intolerance. But the pain continued. Some days I would be in agony and have to keep a heat pack on it.”
Krystal was eventually transported by air to Alice Springs Hospital, located 280 miles from her desert home in Yulara, Northern Territory, Australia. It was there that she learned of her cancer diagnosis.
In a TikTok video, she shared: “I underwent a series of tests. That’s when I knew it was something serious. I was woken up later that night by a doctor whose words I will never forget.
“‘Krystal, I’ve got bad news…. You have cancer,'” the doctor informed her. “The weight of those words, accompanied by my question of ‘How do you know?’ and the doctor’s response, ‘It’s everywhere,’ shook me to my core.”
Another overlooked symptom was night sweats, which Krystal attributed to the summer heat.
“I was experiencing persistent night sweats a few months before I was diagnosed,” Krystal said. “I would wake up during the night drenched in sweat, enough so I had to change clothes and sheets.”
“It was summertime, and I slept with the air [conditioner] on and a fan, so I just thought it was my air [conditioner] not keeping up with the summer heat. So I ignored this sign.”
In response to her situation, Krystal has initiated a GoFundMe campaign to address the “potential loss for my 12-year-old son, Maison”.
“A vulnerable child who may miss out on the love and presence of his mother,” Krystal wrote. “Maison witnessing the toll that this disease is and will take on me is already challenging.”
You can donate to Krystal’s GoFundMe here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or through their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.