The family of a Staffordshire man who was detected too late with colon cancer and is now dying of the disease has cautioned others against ignoring digestive issues.
When Stoke-on-Trent resident Kevin Coles, 46, started having stomach pains early last summer, physicians said it was probably due to constipation.
He was dismissed and sent away with laxatives even though he had visited his general practitioner several times.
However, the father-of-seven’s health drastically deteriorated at the end of August when he started to experience jaundice, a potentially fatal condition brought on by improper liver function.
“He started to sweat like someone was tipping water over him and when he looked at me I noticed that he had gone completely yellow,” said Mr Coles’s wife Kayleigh, 36.
“Then he just vomited.”
In September of last year, Mr. Coles finally received an offer for a scan after weeks of pleading.
A nine-centimeter tumor in his colon was discovered, contrary to the family’s expectation that it would disclose a relatively minor issue, such as gallstones.
Additionally, the pictures revealed that the cancer had progressed to his liver, causing jaundice.
The following month, he started chemotherapy, but regrettably, the illness was not eradicated.
Since then, he has experienced liver failure, and medical professionals have informed him that he may only have a few weeks left to live.
“He didn’t have any of the other symptoms,” Ms. Coles said in reference to her husband’s shock diagnosis.
“He never got blood in his stool like in the TV adverts.”
“It has just been a shock to everybody. Even now it feels like a story. It doesn’t feel real most of the time. How can you get your head around something that happens this quickly.”
“Just five months ago we were on holiday splashing each other in the sea, now he can’t stand up unaided.”
Since receiving his diagnosis, Mr. Coles has struggled with his mobility and has dropped almost five and a half stones.
Since then, the family has launched a fundraising campaign to pay for modifications to their house that would make it simpler for him to climb and descend the steps.
“Life has been extremely hard. I am just making sure that I have as many seconds with him as I can,” said Ms Coles.
‘Let down’ is how the family describes the NHS.
“It is so upsetting that he was sent away countless times with laxatives,” said Ms Coles.
“It has been a whirlwind since the diagnosis. It is just such a shame that it wasn’t found sooner.”
“It should have been taken more seriously when he first came in with stomach pain. It was a silly mistake, and a deadly one.”
“It is now incurable. There isn’t anything that can be done to save him. I am having to lose my best friend because people didn’t listen to him.”
“If you have a stomach ache then get it checked out, and please don’t feel that you are being overbearing.”
August of this year was the planned wedding month for the pair, who first met at a train station more than eight years ago.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kevs-cancer-battle?cdn-cache=0
However, the pair chose not to wait after learning of Mr. Coles’s condition, and in December 2024 they held a brief ceremony.
“We just didn’t want to not be man and wife anymore,” said Ms Coles. “We have always been very close but we are inseparable now.”
According to the NHS, any change in bowel habits, such as softer stools, unusually high or low stool, or constipation, are indicators of bowel cancer.
Additional symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, blood in the stool, bleeding from the back passage, weight loss, and excessive fatigue that seems to be unrelated.
If you experience any colon cancer symptoms for three weeks or more, the health service recommends consulting a general practitioner.
