NEW HEALTH KICK HID THE SIGNS OF CANCER. NOW I’M DYING I WANT TO WARN OTHER SLIMMERS
A WOMAN who mistook the warning signs of cancer for symptoms of her new diet and exercise routine is warning other slimmers to beware.
Melanie Swan-Horton, 46, from Norwich was thrilled when she slimmed from a size 16 to a size ten and started lifting weights to tone up for her holidays.
But the regime masked signs she was suffering from bowel cancer.
By the time she finally got checked out the cancer had spread and she was told it was incurable.
Melanie said: ‘ I was suffering from tiredness and lethargy, but I had been working so hard in the gym that I never thought anything of it.
‘Even when I started bleeding when I went to the toilet I put it down to the heavy weights I had been lifting to tone my arms and squats to firm my bottom.
‘I never dreamed for a second they were all signs of cancer so I just pushed them aside and carried on training. I was delighted to be losing weight at last rather than concerned.
But even the weight loss itself was a sign of the cancer and Melanie is devastated to think she had been delighted to see the scaled fall – not realising she was seriously ill.
She said: ‘I will always wonder if things would have been different had I not been doing the diet and exercise. Instead of being happy I was losing weight I might have question why and seen the doctor earlier. Instead I blamed all the symptoms on that and ignored them.
Melanie, a project charity manager, from Norwich, Norfolk, was a size 16 and 12 stone when she decided to slim down two years ago.
‘I had recently divorced and didn’t feel very confident so decided I would go on a diet, get healthy and lose weight with the goal of reaching a size 10.’
At the same time Melanie met a new partner Kristian, 35, who encouraged her to go to the gym.
She followed a high protein diet favoured by celebrities for fast results and started working out every day.
Within three months Mel had lost three stone and weighed just under nine stone.
‘I was thrilled. I looked better than I had in years and loved buying trendy new clothes,’ she says.
Determined to improve her new physique, Melanie started weight lifting to tone up.
‘I never thought a mother of two like me could ever have real muscles, it was astonishing and my limbs were soon so toned I loved the way I looked in a bikini.’
‘I felt like I had gone from a podgy middle-aged woman to a sexy for the first time ever. My confidence rocketed and I even thought about entering bodybuilding competitions.’
But despite loving the way she now looked, Melanie felt constantly tired and worn out.
‘I put it down to the workouts and thought no more about it and carried on with life,’ she says.
But then she noticed blood in the toilet. ‘ I was shocked but at the same time I had made radical changes to my lifestyle and I heard that lifting weights could cause small bleeds so I didn’t worry and ignored it.’
What Melanie didn’t realise was these were vital warning signs that could have saved her life.
When three months later she was still seeing blood in the toilet she decided to make an appointment with her GP in February 2010.
He assured her it was most likely a polyp and referred her to hospital for a colonoscopy.
Two weeks later in March 2010 the results showed she had a cancerous tumour in her rectum.
‘You never think it will happen to you. When I heard the words it was surreal. I was fitter, slimmer and happier than ever and now I was being told I had cancer. I was devastated.’
After four months of chemotherapy the tumour had shrank enough for surgery and initially the signs that she could beat it seemed good.
The tumour was removed but during the operation doctors discovered it had spread to her liver and she needed more chemo followed by more surgery.
But before surgeons could operate, tumours were also found on her lungs.
‘I was told the treatment was now palliative which meant it was to keep me alive as long as possible, rather than save my life.
‘I was stunned. There was nothing they could do and I wondered if it would have been different had I been diagnosed earlier. I thought back to the signs I had ignored and vowed then that I would tell as many women as possible.
‘The problem is as women we are delighted when we lose weight, we think we look great, everyone tells us we look great, but it could be an indicator that something is wrong.’
A week after the news Melanie and Kristian married followed by a ceremony in Cyprus on September 7th last year.
Melanie has now started another course of chemotherapy to extend her life as long as possible.
‘I haven’t asked how long because I want to fight this and will not give up until I take my last breath.
‘So many women will be on diets after Christmas and I want them to read my story and be aware of the signs.
‘I don’t want to panic anyone, I just want to give people the information so they can get checked out. If I had it may have saved my life.’
ENDS
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