Mum, 36, dismissed cancer symptoms as 'readjusting' after giving birth to twins

A mum sadly died just 12 months after giving birth to twins had dismissed her cancer symptoms as her body 'readjusting' to the birth of her children.

Laura Stephenson was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2018, a year after she had given birth to her children.

The mum-of-three had been feeling under the weather and thought her body was readjusting after childbirth.

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She decided to visit the doctor and was referred to the hospital for scans. It was there she was told she had terminal bowel cancer. Laura died aged 36 in 2019 - one year after her diagnosis LancsLive reports.

Laura's father, Mike Barnes, said: “She hadn’t been feeling well but thought it was her body readjusting from childbirth. She ended up seeing a doctor who referred her to hospital for scans where she was told she had terminal bowel cancer. She called me as she was in the car on the way home to give the news to her mum.

"I was volunteering in Malawi at the time. She told me she wanted to see her girls grow up and get married, and when you’re that distance away all you can say is ‘you will’”.

Mike, from Preston, returned home straight away to be with his daughter, and explains that she never let her diagnosis get in her way.

Mike recalled: “She just went and lived a full life, she refused to let it stop her do anything at all. She had 3 daughters and insisted on picking them up from school every day. Cancer wasn’t going to stop her being a mum, it wasn’t going to interfere with her relationship with those around her, and it wasn’t going to stop her working and helping others.

"I know I’m biased, but she was such an amazing person. Everyone that met her fell in love