A 33-year-old childcare worker from Glasgow had half her stomach removed after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was initially mistaken for period cramps.
Kirsty Adam first went to her GP in March 2026 with stomach cramps she couldn't explain. At first, she was told it was likely linked to her period cycle, but within weeks her health began to deteriorate in ways that didn't fit.
Over the next two months, Kirsty began losing weight and experiencing diarrhoea alongside intense abdominal pain. She says she felt dismissed more than once, with the symptoms later being put down to food poisoning, but the discomfort kept returning and becoming harder to manage as she tried to carry on with day-to-day life.
GP referral and hospital tests
By May 2026, Kirsty went back to her GP, and this time she was referred to Glasgow Royal Infirmary because of concerns it could be related to her appendix. At the hospital, she had blood tests and was asked to provide a stool sample as doctors tried to narrow down what was going on.
With her dad living with Crohn's disease, Kirsty suspected she might be facing the same condition. She went into the next stage of testing expecting an inflammatory bowel diagnosis rather than anything more serious.
Cancer diagnosis and surgery
The stool results indicated significant blood, and she was booked in for a colonoscopy. It was after that procedure, she says, that a doctor told her she had cancer, news that left her stunned and struggling to take in what was being said.
Speaking to Talk to the Press, Kirsty described mentally shutting down in the moment, with her partner taking in the details on her behalf. She said: "As soon as they mentioned cancer, I just stared at the door handle, wanting to run out of the room."
A portion of the tumour was then sent away for biopsy to confirm exactly what doctors were dealing with. In June 2026, Kirsty was told she had squamous cell carcinoma in the bowel, a form of cancer so rare that specialists needed to rule out the possibility it had gone elsewhere.
Recovery and monitoring
She underwent scans of her head, neck and cervix to check for another primary cancer, but those tests came back clear. According to Kirsty, she was then advised that chemotherapy was unlikely to be effective for this particular type, leaving surgery as the main option.
Surgeons carried out a six-and-a-half-hour operation to remove the tumour, along with part of her bowel and half of her stomach. Kirsty says she was told the procedure was vital, and that without it she might not have survived.
Now recovering, she lives with a stoma bag and returns for CT scans every six months so clinicians can monitor for any sign of recurrence. She says she is clinging to the hope that her bowel will heal enough for the stoma to be reversed in future.
Kirsty also spoke about the emotional impact of the changes to her body following surgery. She said adapting to the stoma has been difficult, and that she is still coming to terms with the scar and the daily reality of managing the bag.
