A 47-year-old mother of two has issued an urgent warning after being diagnosed with incurable stage four bowel cancer, having dismissed subtle symptoms for months. Susan Schmidt, a former physiotherapist from Australia, received her devastating diagnosis in September 2023, four months after first experiencing extreme tiredness and constipation.
Schmidt initially attributed her severe fatigue to early menopause, recalling moments when she had to pull over her car to nap during short journeys. 'I'd drive 15 minutes to drop my daughter off at rowing and then have to stop halfway home to nap for 40 minutes,' she told the Daily Mail. 'That's not normal. That was a warning sign. But I brushed it off.'
While on holiday in France, she also experienced constipation, which she blamed on rich local cuisine. However, upon returning to Australia, she suffered intense abdominal pain, which she described as 'worse than childbirth'. Despite a doctor's visit initially giving her the all-clear, further tests revealed the advanced cancer.
'The diagnosis is incurable,' Schmidt said. 'The plan is to stay well for as long as I can.' She now urges others to be open about bowel habits and to push for answers if something feels wrong, even if tests appear normal. 'I had health literacy. I was a physiotherapist. But it never occurred to me to consider bowel cancer,' she added.
Schmidt has since founded The Floozie Foundation, a charity supporting bowel cancer patients and nurses in Australia. Her story highlights the importance of recognising subtle signs such as persistent fatigue and changes in bowel habits, which are often dismissed or considered taboo to discuss.
