Young mum told cancer was 'pregnancy constipation' - she diagnosed herself with £39 test

A young mum who was told she was experiencing ‘pregnancy constipation’ before later being diagnosed with cancer said a cheap screening test kit saved her life.

When primary school teacher Emma Campbell, 39, began experiencing spasm-like contractions whilst carrying her youngest child three years ago, she was told it was just part of her pregnancy.

But when the pain didn’t ease off in the months following her pregnancy, Emma decided to purchase a £39 bowel screening test she’d seen on Facebook.

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“It 100% saved my life as it showed something wasn’t right,” Emma told the Mirror.

After a colonoscopy, Emma, who lives with husband Kari, 38, and kids Jensen, 10, Finlay, seven, and three-year-old Krista in Newcastle, was told she had cancer.

“It was the worst week of my life,” she said. Within weeks of being diagnosed with stage four cancer in February 2020, a chance encounter online saw Emma connect with another woman of her same age in a similar position to her.

After searching #bowelcancer on Instagram, the mum-of-three began chatting to Rebecca Clarke who had been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer two weeks earlier.

“She became my guardian angel,” Emma explains. “I always say Becca was the best thing to come out of cancer.

“I was so scared and lonely those first few weeks. When I found her on Insta, I realised I wasn’t the only young person to get bowel cancer.”

Finance manager Rebecca, who lives in Sheffield with husband Simon, 36, and children Alfie, seven, and Evelyn, four, had decided to seek help after weeks of fatigue and changing bowel habits.

She was diagnosed with cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes and surrounding tissue. “I just