Young mum, Kellie Finlayson’s life is shrouded in a cloud of cancer, but she is bravely spreading a message for people to “trust their gut”, and know the signs of bowel cancer, to avoid ever having to go through the pain she is enduring.
At 25, Kellie had just welcomed her baby girl, Sophia, with the love of her life, Port Adelaide key forward, Jeremey Finlayson.
Three months later she was given the life-changing diagnosis of stage three bowel cancer.
After brushing off severe constipation and abdominal pain as “post partum” symptoms, Kellie says she wishes she was more educated about the signs of bowel cancer.
“As a female it is so easy to pass off symptoms as so many other things”, she said
“I was googling my symptoms and I just assumed I had a food intolerance, or worst-case scenario, irritable bowel syndrome”.
It wasn’t until she found blood in her stool, that Kellie had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right.
Keeping positive, after a successful anterior resection to remove the cancer and lymph nodes, she was cancer free, just as she imagined the story to play out.
“In the early stages we were both really naïve about it all. We were in full denial about how it could impact our lives. I really thought these kinds of things happened to old and fragile people. I was young, I knew I would bounce back.”
Her and Jeremy moved from Sydney, where Kellie was a high school math teacher in Bondi, to Adelaide, and they got engaged with plans to wed this coming October.
Things were looking up. That was until last Christmas, while visiting family in Port Lincoln. Kellie took herself to Lincoln Hospital with shortness of breath, believing she may have had Covid 19.
“I was by myself in Lincoln hospital, not thinking it was anything cancer-related, only to find out I had a collapsed lung, pneumonia and that the cancer had returned,”
“I was emotionally distraught. I just thought holy shit, I know exactly what that means”.
Kellie is now on a mission to raise awareness of Australia’s leading cancer killer in 25-34-year-olds. She features as the face of the Jodi Lee Foundation’s “Trust Your Gut” 2023 campaign.
At the core of this year’s campaign is the new user-friendly online Symptom Checker Tool.
The Symptom Checker guides the user through a series of questions to respond to, while providing helpful advice on the answers provided.
Reflecting on her diagnosis, Kellie wishes she acted on her symptoms sooner.
“If I had this Symptom Checker at my fingertips when I was experiencing constipation, abdominal pains and blood in my poo, things could’ve looked a lot different for me,” she said.
“I have got some reach given my connections to the football world and I will use them for the benefit of everyone.
“I want early onset detection to be at the forefront of my platform. It is a relatively easy cancer to get over, if it’s diagnosed early. I don’t want anyone to have a late diagnosis and go through what I’m going through.”
Kellie and the love of her life “Jezza” brought their wedding forward to March, where Kellie said there wasn’t a dry eye on the shores at West Lakes, where they made their emotional vowels.
Currently in the middle of the AFL season, with the Power sitting pretty, Kellie is the sort of WAG that loves to get behind her man and his sport, making it to every game she can.
Her resolve to spread awareness for the early detection of bowel cancer, and her positive outlook is inspiring.
“Things are looking up, the cancer is responding to the chemo and I’ve only lost about half of my hair, so that’s all positive,” she said.
“I want to get back into the classroom one day, and until I’m told otherwise, I’m going to live life as if I’m going to be here until I’m old and wrinkly.
“I figure if you tell five of your friends about the sings of this disease, and they tell five of their friends, we can remove the stigma, and make this a positive.”
The Jodie Lee Foundation was established in honour of Jodi Lee, who lost her battle with bowel cancer at age 41.
The Foundation’s mission is to empower people to take active steps to prevent bowel cancer and live healthy lives.
To access the newly released symptom tracker click here
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