Monkia Pollakova, 38, from Aintree, was given a heartbreaking diagnosis just weeks after giving birth to her daughter Polly Cooper by C-section in August. Following the birth, Monika developed excruciating abdominal pain and began vomiting, with pain so severe she could barely stand at times. Monika and her partner Scott Cooper suspected something was seriously wrong.
Speaking to the ECHO, Monika said: "It mainly started with the bloating, but I was thinking it was because I was pregnant. The week after the birth the midwife told me I would get trapped wind, which is normal after a C-section. Five and a half weeks later, I just had some bean soup, which is quite high in fibre. I started to have pains and I said to my partner, 'you know what? I'm going upstairs to lie down,' which was at about 6pm/7pm. Half an hour later, I was in pain, I was screaming on the floor. I was saying it was even worse than actually giving birth. I started vomiting. It was coming in waves. I heard something bubbling in my stomach. We knew it was not normal."
Trapped wind or something more?
Scott added: "Monika has had extreme blood pressure too. She could be lying in bed, fully fast asleep, and wake up feeling a bit odd, check her blood pressure, and her blood pressure would be over 200."
Monika, who also has two teenage sons with Scott, was admitted to hospital. She says doctors believed the pain was due to trapped wind or an issue with her gallbladder stones and put her on painkillers. Monika continued: "Even on these painkillers I still felt the pain. It wasn't so bad that I needed to scream, but I still felt it inside. I was saying was, 'that's not trapped wind, because it can't be that painful.'"
Emergency surgery and further scans
After spending three days in hospital, Monika eventually had a CT scan, which found a tumour completely blocking her bowel. Surgeons had to remove around 75% of her large intestine in emergency surgery. Further scans have revealed a suspicious area on her liver.
According to Macmillan Cancer Support, cancer can narrow the bowel, which stops stools from passing through. This is called a blocked bowel or bowel obstruction. Symptoms can include bloating, vomiting, abdominal pain and gurgling noises in your stomach.
Anxious wait and community support
Monika and her family now face an anxious wait to discover how serious her prognosis is. Fighting back tears, Monika said: "It's hard to even talk about. The hardest thing is waiting for the results to see how aggressive it is. I have this small child and I wanted to actually see her grow."
Scott added: "It makes you want to cry. In terms of when we had the baby, I took some time out from work and everything because Monika was still recovering from a C-section. In the run-up to the week or two before we actually had the baby, I slowed down in work then because I knew that it was coming. As we got back to a bit of normality, where I was starting to nip out and go and do a little bit of work here and there, all of this has fallen on us. By the time she got diagnosed, I was already two months out of work. We're not living day to day, but we're certainly not comfortable by any means in terms of what we have to live on. Since she's had this operation and she's had the part of her bowel removed, her blood pressure is really under control now."
A family friend set up a GoFundMe, which has already raised over £11,000, with many complete strangers donating. Scott said: "We were really taken aback by it at first because we've never really wanted a handout from anybody, or if we've ever had to borrow something, we'll pay it back straight away, within a day or two. The GoFundMe being put out there has really brought in lots of mental support. The last few days before the GoFundMe got made, we put ourselves into a bubble of, 'this isn't happening to us' sort of thing. We were just trying to get through everyday life and still take the kids to school. The support of the GoFundMe has just blown our minds."
Raising awareness
Now Monika and Scott are determined to raise awareness about the signs of bowel obstruction and cancer. Monika said: "For me, it's about raising awareness. If I can help one person, it's enough for me because with bowel cancer, people think that people under 50 can't get it."
Scott added: "There's probably thousands and thousands of people across the country who are getting stomach pains and gut pains. Money makes the world go round, and you've got to pay to live, obviously. But at the same time, if you haven't got good health, then you don't care about anything else anymore, do you really?"
