Overview
- Milli Tanner reported abdominal pain, back pain and rectal bleeding from 2021, but clinicians repeatedly attributed her symptoms to non-cancer causes and said she was too young.
- An at-home faecal immunochemical test was positive, yet an NHS FIT was required before an urgent referral, during which she was initially told of a 60‑week colonoscopy wait.
- An urgent colonoscopy in November 2023 confirmed stage III bowel cancer with lymph node involvement.
- She underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, had eggs collected due to fertility risks, received a permanent stoma and now has recent CT and colonoscopy results showing no signs of cancer.
- Teenage Cancer Trust says similar delays are common and presses for targeted primary-care measures as Cancer Research UK reports a 74% rise in bowel cancer rates among under‑25s since the early 1990s; the Department of Health was asked for comment.