A mother who blamed her night sweats on perimenopause has revealed it was an early sign of deadly bowel cancer.
Charlie O’Brien, 43, from Bromley in South East London, had previously been fit-and-healthy until she suddenly became very unwell at the start of the year.
Doctors found a large tumour on her colon and she was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in January 2025.
Heartbreakingly, the counsellor and hypnotherapist was told by doctors she has a ‘four in ten’ chance of survival.
Despite not experiencing most of the classic symptoms, her tumour was already three to four years old, because bowel cancer can be very slow growing.
Since her diagnosis, she has been able to ‘piece it all together’ and has shared what she believes to be the early signs of the devastating disease.
Initially she put the on-and-off night sweats she’d had for around two years down to entering perimenopause, but once her tumour was removed ‘they’ve stopped’.
Other symptoms she has since linked to the tumour include an aching and pulling sensation on her left side, bloating, tummy cramps, and constipation.
A mother has shared that on and off night sweats were an early sign that she had bowel cancer
Now she has urged others experiencing any of the early signs to ‘insist on screenings with your GP if needs be’.
In a video posted on TikTok which has been viewed more than 114,000 times, she also shared the usual bowel cancer symptoms she didn’t experience.
These included blood from the bottom, weight loss, fatigue, vitamin deficiency, and loss of appetite.
‘If I can help someone to not go through the dreadful experience I have—these posts are more than worth it,’ she wrote in the caption.
And it seems her decision to go public with her diagnosis and health battle has already started to have a positive ripple effect.
After bravely sharing her experience, many people have told her that they have either had a colonoscopy or booked an appointment for one.
Since under going an emergency operation to remove the tumour, Ms O’Brien has undergone eight rounds of chemotherapy, with more to go.
The comment section was flooded with messages of support from social media users.
One user commented: ‘Thank you so much for sharing this. (I) really hope you are okay.’
Another said: ‘This is so important to spread awareness. I’ve just been diagnosed and never had any of the classic (symptoms).’
It comes amid an alarming explosion of cancers in young people, which has baffled experts.
Over the last 30 years, young diagnoses of colon cancer have shot up by 80 per cent across the globe, research suggests.
Meanwhile, rates of the disease in older groups, who are statistically more likely to get the disease overall, have either declined or remained stable to the same period.
Concerningly, last year experts predicted that deaths from bowel cancer are set to soar by a tenth by 2040.
There have been several different explanations proposed by experts for the explosion in cases in young people.
Earlier this year a bombshell study found a common food bug E. coli picked up in childhood may be fuelling the epidemic.
Other researchers have suggested it could be due to ‘accelerated aging’ which increases their risk of developing polyps, small growths that can lead to cancer.
This aging is thought to be caused by a mixture of lifestyle choices, such as diet and level of exercise.
However, it has also been suggested that factors typically outside of an individual’s control could be to blame, like chemicals in food, clothing and air.
Some studies have pointed to seed oils like sunflower, canola, corn and grapeseed, as the explanation.
Meanwhile, a growing number of studies have laid the blame at the foot of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
Other theories suggest microplastics—particles of plastic that are transferred on to food from packaging materials—and additives in store-bought foods.
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