Gut FEELING

Auckland business owner Anika Henderson was just 36 when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. The mother-of three says she would never have suspected her coeliac-like symptoms would turn out to be cancer. She shares her story to encourage other women to take charge of their health

I started having symptoms around September 2015. Initially my symptoms would swap between being constipated and having diarrhoea – it would be like that for a few days, and then I would be absolutely fine. Having three small kids, I thought maybe I just had a bug, or hadn’t been eating properly or regularly, or I was lacking sleep. But it reached a point where I was running to the bathroom 10 times a day, and some blood would come out. That’s when it started to get a little more frightening and the doctors began to do more tests. But the problem with the flare-ups – and this is good for people to know – is I would be running to the toilet 10 times a day, but the very…

You're reading a preview of

NEXT (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2019

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.