Lauren Toole is speaking out after doctors dismissed her symptoms eight times before discovering cancer.
The 27-year-old mother from the UK said she first noticed blood after wiping in 2023, following the birth of her second son. What started as a minor issue she tried to ignore gradually escalated into something far more serious, with a lump appearing and bleeding worsening over time.
Toole said she visited doctors repeatedly about her symptoms. “My first symptoms started at least three years ago after my second son. At first, I kind of ignored it myself. It began with just a little bit of blood upon wiping. I didn’t really think much of it until symptoms started getting worse. Doctors told me they rarely come across someone who hasn’t got piles, especially when they have children,” she said.
Despite her growing concerns, healthcare providers insisted her problems were typical for a mother who had given birth. They prescribed hemorrhoid treatments that failed to help, and at one point diagnosed her with health anxiety and put her on antidepressants.
“I’d flip between constipation and loose stools. A doctor noted down that I could have irritable bowel syndrome. I was just told I basically had really bad health anxiety and was given antidepressants,” Toole said. She also described how the physical symptoms became impossible to dismiss: “As the symptoms got worse and the different creams hadn’t improved anything, that’s when my concerns had grown. It got to the point where I had to push the lump back in myself. There would also be blood clots when I was wiping. Every time I went to the toilet I would have bleeding.”
The turning point came when Toole was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis. That emergency finally led to a referral for a colonoscopy, which revealed polyps in her colon. Doctors removed the small cysts and performed a biopsy, discovering two separate conditions: pre-cancerous cells identified as tubulovillous adenoma, and a rare neuroendocrine tumor.
Now facing one or more surgeries to ensure all cancerous tissue is removed, Toole expressed both relief and lingering uncertainty. “If I’d left both of them, I could’ve potentially ended up with two different types of cancer. I’m in the lurch still not knowing what is happening next,” she said.
The experience has left Toole grappling with self-doubt alongside her frustration with the medical system. “I was frustrated not just with the doctors but with myself too – did I say the right things? I wish I’d educated myself more on the other potential things it could’ve been before accepting the answer,” she explained. “I just had this intuition that something wasn’t right, which might present as being anxious. I was anxious because I didn’t feel myself.”
She believes earlier intervention could have changed everything. “Being told I had anxiety, IBD, haemorrhoids – if they’d maybe tied those symptoms together and sent me for a colonoscopy, it would’ve been picked up sooner,” Toole said.
Toole now wants her story to serve as a warning to others who feel their concerns are being dismissed. She urged people to trust their instincts and pursue additional medical opinions when something feels wrong, emphasizing that speaking up for yourself can make the difference between early detection and a delayed diagnosis.