Survivor calls for earlier diagnosis for young cancer sufferers
Despite multiple trips to the doctor Anna Flood only discovered her extreme fatigue was due to bowel cancer two years later, she is now calling for more to be done to diagnose and treat young people earlier.
She suffers from Lynch syndrome, the same genetic condition which caused teenage campaigner Stephen Sutton's bowel cancer and death last year.
The university graduate was 22 when she first went to her GP suffering from extreme fatigue.Despite multiple trips to the doctor complaining of weight loss and bowel problems, they repeatedly missed her cancer.Two years later, in May 2010, Ms Flood was admitted to hospital where she received the "shock" news that she had bowel cancer.
Ms Flood, who studied history at Exeter University and is beginning a nursing degree in the autumn, said she did not feel her GP took her seriously.It was not until she was admitted to hospital with stomach pains that she got the life-saving treatment she needed.
Ms Flood underwent successful treatment and will have her five year scan next month which she hopes will show she is all clear of the cancer.She says now: "There needs to be more work done to make it less of a stigma, less embarrassing for young people to talk about these things."