A nursery worker is warning people not to think they are 'too young' for cancer.

Chloe Wakelin had attributed her vomiting symptoms to a tummy bug caught from kids but it turned out she had bowel cancer.

She shared that she had visited her GP weekly for two months to complain of persistent tummy aches, tiredness and low appetite.

The worried 26-year-old was reportedly told it was 'probably just a viral stomach bug' after tests for Crohn's disease and Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) came back negative.

She assumed she'd picked up the illness while caring for children at work or looking after her daughter Harper-Ellen Wakelin, six.

Chloe Wakelin says she visited her GP weekly for two months to complain of persistent tummy ache, tiredness and low appetite.Chloe Wakelin says she visited her GP weekly for two months to complain of persistent tummy ache, tiredness and low appetite. (Image: Kennedy News and Media) In January 2024, she rushed to A&E because her skin was 'turning yellow' and scans revealed she had a large mass in her colon that required immediate surgery.

Chloe says her doctors revealed she was just 12 hours from death because her living and kidneys were failing.

When she woke from her seven-and-a-half-hour-long surgery, she had a stoma bag and medics confirmed she had stage three colon cancer.

The mum-of-one says she felt 'everything had crumbled around her' when she got the news but is now thankfully in remission after four rounds of gruelling chemotherapy.

She feels 'let down' by the doctors who brushed off her concerns for months and is keen to raise awareness of symptoms to look out for.

Chloe, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, said: "I was told that I probably just had a viral stomach bug.

"I was working in a nursery and I was around children all the time so I just thought that if it was a stomach bug, I'd picked it up from the children.

"I have a little girl myself so maybe she'd brought it home from school.

"As time went on, I knew that the stomach bug wasn't going away and that it had to be something else.

"It was getting to the stage where I started to question if it was all in my head.

"When you're going continuously [to the doctors] but you're told there's nothing wrong with you, it gets really frustrating.

"My mind never went to cancer for one second.

"For weeks I'd been told that I just had a stomach bug but then I was hearing the big C. At 25 years old it was quite worrying.

"It's a bit crazy because when people say that your life can literally turn upside down within a day, or hours, you never think it's going to be you.

"I was so confused. I was in tears to my mum and my auntie on the phone.

"I just couldn't understand how for so long, it could be dismissed as a stomach bug and how only the week before I was told that I needed a scan but they were too busy.

"I was told that if I didn't have the surgery, I would have had 12 hours to live because my kidney and my liver were failing.

"Waking up in recovery, I remember feeling my stomach and feeling the bag. It just felt like everything had crumbled around me."

Chloe says that when she complained of severe bloating in late 2023 doctors even made her take multiple pregnancy tests.

Her symptoms worsened when she struggled to keep food down and was throwing up vomit 'that looked like tar'.

In December 2023 she had more tests that worried docs but Chloe says she was told The Royal Oldham Hospital was too busy to conduct a scan.

They said she could have suffered from the stomach virus gastroenteritis but new blood tests came back clear and she was told to attend A&E if her symptoms got worse.

At the beginning of January 2024,  Chloe left work and attended her local A&E department as she was 'turning yellow'.

It was the subsequent CT scan that revealed her tumour along with confirmation she had sepsis.

Less than an hour after the scan, Chloe was rushed in for emergency surgery and told that she was just 12 hours away from death.

During her surgery, the tumour, 25 cm of her large bowel and her lymph nodes were removed and she was given a stoma.

After the operation, Chloe underwent four rounds of chemotherapy to ensure that the cancer had been fully removed.

In June 2024, Chloe finished her final round of chemotherapy and a month later she was told that she was in remission.

However, Chloe says she feels 'frustrated' and 'let down' that the cancer had been missed by doctors for so long.

Chloe said: "That was great news. I felt over the moon.

"I was so glad it [the cancer] was gone, but at the same time there was a 'what if?' in the back of my head.

"I was thinking 'what if they missed something or what if it's not gone?' but I guess that's just the mistrust I had from the first time round.

"I felt let down by them [the doctors] and very saddened by it all.

"It was frustrating and it was quite an upsetting feeling.

"I'd always had so much trust when I'd been to the hospital or doctors before. I felt very let down by them all."

The mum-of-one is now urging anyone else who is experiencing symptoms to visit their GP - regardless of their age.

The NHS say main symptoms of bowel cancer include persistent blood in the stools, a persistent change in bowel habits, persistent lower abdominal (tummy) pain, bloating or discomfort.

Chloe said: "You always think you're too young at 25 because it's typically a cancer that affects older people.

"I didn't have the 'typical' symptoms for bowel cancer.

"I'd just like to remind everyone to not be ashamed to go to their GP about any symptoms they may be having, no matter your age. It can affect anyone."

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Steve Taylor, chief officer at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: "We are unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality.

"We always encourage anyone who has questions or concerns relating to their care or treatment with us to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) so any issues can be looked into."

Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership has been contacted for comment.