Shame can kill, says man who lost his young wife to bowel cancer

A HUSBAND has launched a campaign to raise public awareness of bowel cancer after his wife’s symptoms went undiagnosed for several months before she died at the age of 32.

Joanne Gordon treated herself with an over-the-counter cream for six months after developing signs of the disease, because she was too embarrassed to discuss the symptoms with her doctor.

She died on 29 September, 18 months after the first signs had appeared.

Her husband Kevin, 35, said yesterday that his wife’s dying wish was to raise awareness of the potentially deadly disease and to warn other young people not ignore the warning signals, however embarrassing.

Mr Gordon, an assistant offshore driller, of Hillview Place, Lossiemouth, said bowel cancer was rarely associated with young people and the death of his wife had been one of the tragic cases where the signs had been missed.

He said: “It was just sheer bad luck, a combination of Joanne maybe not being as open with the doctor as she could have been and him not spotting the signs because of her age.”

Mr Gordon explained that his wife, a support worker with Moray Council, had gone to see her doctor at Elgin’s Linkwood Medical Centre for the first time in February last year. She was told it was most probably haemorrhoids and she went away with a prescription for cream. She went back to the surgery in September but an internal examination, two blood tests and two stool tests failed to diagnose the disease. By December, she was suffering intense back and leg pain and the couple had to put their plans for a baby on hold.

Mr Gordon said a surgeon from Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin made the cancer diagnosis in February. He said: “If there had been more patient-to-doctor communication, maybe things wouldn’t have gone as they did. But I spoke to the doctor recently and have been assured new plans are in place. I see them as a huge step towards stopping this from happening again.”

A spokesman for the Linkwood Medical Centre said the practice could not comment because of patient confidentiality, which extended to patients after their death.

Almost 300 people attended Mrs Gordon’s funeral in Lossiemouth. She had herself made the arrangements for the service, including a motorcycle hearse.

More than 80 per cent of the 37,500 people who are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK are aged over 60. But cases among under-30s have increased by 120 per cent in the past ten years. People living in parts of Scotland are three times more likely to die from bowel cancer than in any other part of the UK, according to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity .

Glasgow is the worst in the country for the number of deaths from the disease per year, followed by Orkney and Falkirk.

Mark Flannagan, the charity’s chief executive said: “Deaths from bowel cancer could, and should, be much less common. Early diagnosis is key.”

Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer, claiming a life every 30 minutes.