A mom who was told she was too young to have cancer has revealed the symptoms doctors dismissed.
Amber Kissell, 45, from Indiana, had been feeling unwell for some time, but had been told she was 'too young' to have cancer.
However, after suffering with a range of symptoms, she was sent for a colonoscopy, which revealed she had colon cancer that had spread to her liver and lymph nodes.
"Things never got better. In fact, all they did was get worse," she said.
Advert
"I went back a third time, I asked if he was sure I didn't have cancer, and they said I was too young.
"I had a feeling it was something sinister.
"My whole world had flashed before my eyes. My children were eight and 16 months.
"It was like an out-of-body experience. I thought I was going to die.
"When I was told it had spread to my liver, I dropped the phone to the doctor and phoned my mom to say I was dying."
Amber first started experiencing fatigue, bowel issues and unexplained weight loss after the birth of her second child in 2015.
But when she found blood in her stool, she visited her doctor, only for medics to dismiss her symptoms as a fissure or hemorrhoids.
"I could not get up in the middle of the night to take care of our baby, I felt so ill," Amber continued.
"They said the blood in my stool was because I had a fissure. When I walked past she said, 'good job on losing 10 pounds.'
"I thought it was weird as I was not trying to lose weight."
When Amber started to experience dizziness, she was sent for a colonoscopy where she found out she had cancer.
"I remember the whole thing so clearly," she said.
"I then reached out to three different specialists who would treat me.
"I went with the first doctor I had spoken to because he was the most compassionate. He said they were going to start with aggressive chemotherapy.
"They were then going to put me on palliative care because they didn't think they could cure me, but wanted to help improve the quality of my life."
Amber underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy, which completely shrunk the tumors. She has remained in remission ever since.
After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, her tumors disappeared, and she has remained in remission since.
"It really was a miracle, my kids were eight and 16 months," Amber continued.
"I had made buckets for them, I made journals - I was preparing them for life without me.
"When I got the news it was all gone I cried, it took me a long time to believe."
Nearly nine years on, Amber is still in remission and now only needs an annual checkup.
Lucy Devine