‘I thought I had piles but it was rectal cancer – chemotherapy nearly killed me but I thank the universe I’m alive’

A woman who thought she had piles later discovered it was rectal cancer and nearly died after a severe allergic reaction to chemotherapy, but she has since been given the all-clear and now thanks the universe she is alive each day.

Jane Locke, 66, who lives in New Milton, Hampshire, thought she had haemorrhoids in January 2021, but after investigation in September of the same year, she was diagnosed with rectal cancer.

Jane, a head of English, began chemotherapy and radiotherapy in November 2021, but a severe allergic reaction to the chemotherapy left her dangerously swollen and under close hospital monitoring for nine days.

After recovering and completing weeks of radiotherapy that left her skin badly burned, Jane received the all clear in August 2022.

Jane, a mother-of-two to Henry, 30, and Lexie, eight, told PA Real Life: “When I was in hospital, I watched my body start to swell up – my legs took on loads of liquid, my thighs were getting big and I was watching my body expand.

“All of a sudden there were doctors everywhere and everybody was rushing around.

“They said I could have died.

“Now, my life is brighter, more colourful, more immediate… when I wake up in the morning, I say to the universe, ‘Thank you very much, I’m awake, I’m alive.”

In January 2021, Jane thought she had piles, as she had all the “usual symptoms” such as blood after passing stool and having a lump in the anal area.

When it had not improved by July, she visited her GP.

“They said to me you’re the fittest person I’ve got in my books in your age group, except for this lump,” she explained.

Around six weeks later, in September, she saw a consultant at Royal Bournemouth Hospital with the expectation that her piles would be removed.

Jane recalled: “I was on the operating table and the surgeon put her fingers in me, and she said, ‘That’s rectal cancer’ straight away.

“I’m not somebody that needs to be spoken gently to.

“And she said, ‘Are you okay? Are you shocked?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think so – I’m not surprised.’

“It was a very big shock to my husband, because the whole operation stopped there, and then they wouldn’t do anything else.”

While she was at the hospital, staff explained to Jane that she might need a stoma bag and talked her through the different stages of rectal cancer.

She said: “My first reaction was asking if I could still do yoga!

“It was all really quick but it meant I had a lot of information to go home with, even if we didn’t know the stage yet.”

Around two weeks later, she had a biopsy as well as CT and MRI scans.

Doctors told her they would not be able to remove the lump because of the risk of her “bleeding out”, which Jane found “quite upsetting”.

Three weeks later, Jane was told she had stage one rectal cancer and would not need a stoma bag.

She said: “It was a sigh of relief, but the bombshell was that I had to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy everyday, besides weekends, for six weeks.”

She began treatment in November 2021 at Poole Hospital, starting with intravenous chemotherapy, with the plan of moving on to chemotherapy tablets and radiotherapy.

About two weeks into treatment, she finished a radiotherapy session and told a doctor she did not feel well, “feeling dizzy and just a bit weird”.

Jane had an allergic reaction to the chemotherapy tablets, despite having already taken them for a week.

Jane recalled watching her body “swell up” rapidly, and suddenly being surrounded by doctors.

She explained: “They said they’d have to operate on me to remove all the inflammation and I’d potentially die as a result, or I’d be okay if they monitored me.”

At the time, because of Covid-19 restrictions, her husband was not allowed to visit her.

Doctors monitored Jane on the ward – she was on an IV drip and given diuretics, and she could barely walk because of the swelling.

Jane quickly bonded with the other women on the ward and helped them with meditation, something she said helped them with “the stress” of being in hospital and which she found emotionally “healing”.

After nine days in hospital, Jane’s condition stabilised and she was able to go home – she did not need an operation.

She continued radiotherapy treatment until December 23 2021.

“It got harder because the radiotherapy burned my skin from just below my navel to the top of my thighs,” Jane explained.

“It looked like I got a terrible sunburn, it was excruciating.

“I still felt terrible for two or three weeks after stopping the treatment – I had to crawl out of bed.”

Jane then had regular follow-up scans and, in August 2022, was given the all-clear.

She recalled: “I said great, but if it does come back, where does it go?

“They said it could spread to the bowel, but they haven’t found anything.”

Since having cancer, Jane said she no longer “puts things off” and that the experience has put life into perspective.

She has continued to have follow-up scans and said meditation has helped her feel grounded and stop herself worrying about the outcome in between scans.

She follows a programme by The Isha Foundation – a non-profit organisation and UK registered charity.

The programme itself is called Miracle of Mind, offering a simple seven-minute meditation designed by the Indian Yogi Sadhguru.

For more information, visit: https://isha.sadhguru.org/eu/en/miracle-of-mind.