'I was diagnosed with cancer aged 33 and my whole world crumbled'

Fran Oxlade discusses her bowel cancer diagnosis on ITV's Tonight

When Fran Kirkbright got the all clear from bowel cancer, having been diagnosed at the age of 33, it meant she could finally set the date and marry her fiancé Dean. It had been a devastating blow to be told she had cancer after multiple visits to the doctor for unusual symptoms - with no one suspecting it at first in someone so young.

Mum-of-one Fran, now 35, from Horley, Surrey, remembers the moment vividly. She says: “I just didn’t feel well. Some of my bowel habits had changed. There was blood, there was cramping, and tiredness like I have never known before. I was finally sent for a colonoscopy and when the results appeared it was like the air had been sucked out of the room. I knew something was wrong.

"I was told then and there that it was cancer. I was with my mum and she said ‘Don’t get upset, it might not be bad,’ and the doctor said, ‘No unfortunately your daughter does have cancer.'"

Fran adds: "I remember walking outside of the hospital and looking around and seeing people laughing and just going about their day and finding it really weird that I felt like my world had just ended and everyone was being normal. I wanted to scream at them. I just couldn’t get my head round it at all. My world has never been the same since.”

Fran, an office manager, began months of aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy and had surgery to remove nearly all her bowel, leaving her with a life-changing stoma bag and side effects including sickness, hair thinning and painful nerve damage in her hands.

She says: “There were some long, dark days. I gave Dean an out. We’d only been together 18 months and I said I don’t know how this is going to be. I’ll have a bag attached to me, my body will change. His response was to get down on one knee and propose. We were at Chessington Zoo for his birthday. We fed the giraffes, we had dinner, we went back to the hotel. Then he was standing there with a ring. We were going to get married in October this year, until everything changed again.”

With more young adults diagnosed with cancer in recent years than ever before, scientists are in a race against time to find out why. The world was shocked last year when the Princess of Wales revealed she was undergoing treatment for cancer at the age of 42.

Other high profile cases, such as Sir Chris Hoy and ‘Bowel Babe’ Deborah James have brought attention to a worrying global trend - cancer is no longer just an illness of the elderly. A moving ITV1 documentary Cancer Under 50: Searching For Answers, airing tonight, investigates the reasons behind the alarming increase in cancer in people under 50.

Fran, who features in the documentary, is desperate to raise awareness - especially after her journey took a shattering turn. She says: “I got the all clear last July and everything felt hopeful. We could start getting our lives back on track, set the date for the wedding. But then three months later a scan found a very extensive and aggressive spread. The oncologist told me that my life expectancy was about two years, with aggressive chemo just to treat my symptoms and side effects.”

Fran, who is undergoing a third kidney operation today, says: “That news was worse than hearing the initial diagnosis. To have to break that news to my friends and family, including my 14-year-old son Callum - my world crumbled. In July we'd had an ‘I kicked cancer’s butt’ party. We were planning the wedding. In that moment, I still feel it, the hope’s gone. The world doesn’t feel as sunny or as shiny as it did.”

According to new analysis by Cancer Research UK, almost 35,000 under 50s are now diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year, with 5,800 young adults each year dying from the disease. Since the early 1990s, cancer rates in 25-49 year olds in the UK have increased by 24%, with bowel cancer one of the fastest rising cancers in under 50s.

Fran was told that if she wanted to do anything, she should do it soon - so she and Dean brought their wedding forward and tied the knot in Sussex on January 25th this year. Fran - now Fran Oxlade - says: “It was the perfect day. My sister Lisa was my maid of honour, Callum walked me down the aisle. For one day we parked it all. In our vows we did not say ‘In sickness and health’ or ‘Til death do us part’. There was no mention of cancer or sickness or anything negative. It was just a lot of love from all our friends and family."

She adds: "I was very conscious that the next time we’d all be in a room together would be at my funeral. I’m registered at a hospice now, I have shared my end of life care plan with my family. They want me to live forever but sadly that can’t be. My funeral will be my last hurrah, the last thing I can do for everyone, I’m planning it to be a celebration.”

In the ITV documentary, experts say that while better detection and reporting could account for the numbers, it doesn’t account for the scale of the increase. Experts say there is a rise in certain types of cancer, like colo-rectal, thyroid, breast and melanoma, while looking at causes like diet, obesity, smoking and alcohol, as well as environmental factors like air quality and little known issues such as microplastics.

Professor Sarah Berry from the PROSPECT study into Bowel cancer, says: “Alcohol intake, physical inactivity, smoking, dietary factors and living with obesity together account for about 60% of the risk of developing bowel cancer. But there’s also so many questions and so much we don’t know, like environmental exposures, pollutants like microplastics. We’re going on a hunting expedition to find out more.”

Health information manager at Cancer Research UK, Megan Winter, says: “Globally and in the UK we're seeing an increase in early onset cancers, affecting people aged 25-49. Cancer is still far more common in older adults, but this doesn't change how difficult it is for anyone who is diagnosed with the disease. There isn’t one clear answer to what’s causing the rise, but exposure to risk factors, genetics and improvements to early detection might all play a part. More research is crucial to understand the causes of early onset cancer, so we can know how to prevent it.”

Fran, who admits she never used to like talking about toilet habits, has raised thousands for Bowel Cancer UK doing the Race for Life and says that raising awareness of the symptoms will save lives. Fran says: “Cancer does not discriminate, even the royals have had cancer. Cancer does not care who you are. As a nation we are very toilet shy, but maybe if we weren’t, if I wasn’t, things would have been different for me. If I can stop one mother from being away from their child or seeing them grow up, or one wife not being able to live until retirement age with their husband, that will be a small win and I’m at peace with that.” Fran, who is hoping to plan a honeymoon with Dean, adds: “Now I find the glimmers in the day, the little joys. We should all do that.”

*Cancer Under 50: Searching For Answers - Tonight is on Thursday 3rd April, ITV1, 8.30pm

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