A mother of two from Australia is speaking out about the subtle symptoms she initially dismissed, only to later discover they were signs of stage 4 bowel cancer.
Susan Schmidt, now 47, was diagnosed with the incurable illness in September 2023 at age 45, just four months after she began experiencing what she thought were minor health issues.
“The diagnosis is incurable,” she said to The Daily Mail. “The goal now is to stay well for as long as I can. I’ll probably resume chemotherapy after my next overseas trip.”
A former physiotherapist, Susan is now using her experience to encourage open conversation about digestive health, especially when it comes to bowel habits, which she says are still too often considered taboo.
“I didn’t talk about my bowel habits, who does?” she said. “That’s part of the problem with bowel cancer. People don’t raise the alarm early enough.”
In spite of her medical background, she said bowel cancer didn’t even cross her mind.
“I didn’t have blood in my stool or dramatic symptoms. Just fatigue, constipation, and two really intense episodes of pain.”
The first sign that something was wrong? A deep, unrelenting tiredness. In May 2023, she began feeling so fatigued that she had to pull over and nap during short drives.
“I’d drive my daughter 15 minutes to rowing, then have to stop on the way home and nap for 40 minutes,” she recalled. “That’s not normal. That was a warning sign, but I brushed it off.”
At the time, she assumed the fatigue was due to perimenopause or simply the exhaustion of a busy life.
Later, while vacationing in France for a friend’s wedding, she noticed another change: constipation, something she had never experienced before, according to The Mirror.
“I just wasn’t going properly. I blamed the rich food, too much cheese, too much indulgence. I didn’t think much of it.”
However, things took a serious turn when she returned home to Australia. She experienced excruciating abdominal pain, “worse than childbirth,” she said, and sought medical help. Initial tests found nothing alarming.
“They weren’t looking for cancer,” Susan explained. “So I was told everything was fine.”
It wasn’t. Months later, she received the devastating diagnosis: stage 4 bowel cancer.
Now, Susan is urging others to pay attention to even minor changes in their health.
“I want people to know the signs. I want them to push for answers if something feels off,” she said. “Even if your blood work is normal, even if they say it’s stress, diet, or hormones, listen to your instincts.”
Determined to make a difference, Susan has since launched The Floozie Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting bowel cancer patients and the nurses who care for them.
