Scottish mother diagnosed with bowel cancer was given peppermint capsules by GP

A mother-of-three who was prescribed peppermint capsules for irritable bowel syndrome by her GP which later turned out to be advanced bowel cancer has been chosen to front a new national campaign.

Claire Bothwell will be the public face of Bowel Cancer UK’s initiative to mark World Advanced Bowel Cancer Day which takes place today.

The 41-year-old was diagnosed with the disease in June 2016, aged 38, after first becoming ill eight months previously with what she thought was a stomach upset.

Every year around 42,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer, with 10,000 people diagnosed at stage four. This is also known as advanced, secondary or metastatic disease, and is when the cancer spreads from the bowel to other parts of the body, most commonly the liver or lungs. Ms Bothwell said: “I had caught a nasty bug but whilst I thought I was on the mend my bowel habits had changed considerably. I never thought it could be bowel cancer. I had none of the risk factors. It wasn’t on my radar.

Claire Bothwell, 41 from Glasgow who has stage four bowel cancer, is at the heart of Bowel Cancer UK's campaign to mark World Advanced Bowel Cancer Day

‘I was still in a lot of pain”

“My GP referred me to a gastroenterologist but there was a five month wait. I wasn’t prepared to wait this long so I booked to see a private specialist. He also didn’t think it was bowel cancer and the £2,000 price tag of a colonoscopy put me off, instead he recommended some excellent probiotics.

“I used them for months but they weren’t very effective and by this time, I only had a few more weeks to wait for my NHS gastroenterologist appointment.

“I went to back to the GP as I was still in a lot of pain. They thought it could be irritable bowel syndrome, but I refused all drugs as I was breast feeding and didn’t want to harm my baby. Instead they prescribed me peppermint capsules.

Diagnosis

Ms Bothwell said she should have gone to A&E but instead carried on going to the GP.

She added: “It was on 3 June that I had a colonoscopy. The tumour was so big, they couldn’t get the scope past it. I was so relieved just to get a diagnosis. This is something I can fix.

“I researched bowel cancer and knew that if it was caught early enough it’s curable. Although my gut feeling was telling me that mine wasn’t an early diagnosis.”

Dr Lisa Wilde, director of research and external affairs, at Bowel Cancer UK said: “Claire’s experience makes the charity even more determined to make real change happen for people diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. We have been calling on the government for a long time to put initiatives in place to reduce the number of people diagnosed at the late stage of the disease.”