At the end of 2017 I was extremely tired but working long hours and a busy mum. I was thirty-eight. My husband had said I should see a GP as possibly my iron was low and I had been taking iron tablets for years, with my GP not being able to explain why I was anaemic.
By the time I saw her I had started to lose blood. She sent me for a colonoscopy where when I woke there was a nurse who said ‘If there was anything wrong with you the Dr would be here.’ I went home.
Symptoms continued and my GP insisted on another colonoscopy thinking there must be a polyp. That was booked for a few weeks later.
I'm thankful that my GP was insistent and didn't think things were okay.
The day of my second colonoscopy I told the doctor in the operating theatre - it's okay, it's only a polyp and I need to be back at work tomorrow.
A little while later I woke to the same man with tears in his eyes saying - I'm sorry Amanda I don't know how they sent you home but it's cancer and it's broken through. It’s everywhere. We will do what we can.
I was so confused. The rest went like a whirlwind I was booked into many surgeries as it was widespread and included 54 lymph nodes.
My first oncologist told me that he didn't think he could save me and that I probably had three months to live. I lost my job, my home as I moved from hospital bed to hospital bed and my whole world as I knew it crumpled.
The only blessing was the great friends I met who were also on their own journey and they have now travelled home to be with God.
My second oncologist was a gift from God and has thrown everything at it so that I now live well five years down the track. I'm still managing well and will forever be thankful that I get to survive.