A 39-year-old mother from Australia, Krystal Maeyke, who described herself as healthy and fit, has publicly shared the series of symptoms she experienced before being diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer.
In a video she posted online, Krystal recounted the symptoms she noticed and initially dismissed over the course of several months.
According to her account:
- She experienced sharp, stabbing pains in her abdomen that she initially attributed to a food allergy.
- Unexplained night sweats occurred frequently, even in air-conditioned conditions.
- She noticed a loss of appetite and periods where she felt unusually unwell.
- Her bowel movements became irregular, with changes she did not immediately connect to anything serious.
- She also reported persistent tiredness during this time.
For weeks, Krystal attributed these issues to stress, overwork, or benign causes because she considered herself generally healthy and active.
As her symptoms worsened, the pain became unbearable, and she was eventually airlifted to the hospital by the Royal Flying Doctors Service. There, a series of medical tests revealed that the cancer had reached a metastatic stage, meaning it had spread beyond the bowel.
Krystal’s experience underscores a broader pattern described in reporting about bowel and colorectal cancers: early signs such as changes in bowel habits, abdominal discomfort, unexplained fatigue, and other nonspecific symptoms can easily be overlooked or attributed to less serious issues.
Since her diagnosis, she has shared details of her journey to raise awareness about the types of warning signs that sometimes appear before a bowel cancer diagnosis
