Sherri Rollins has always been a “healthy person” who attended her health check-ups.
Despite her father passing from bowel cancer, also known as colon cancer, in his early fifties, she didn’t believe the same could happen to her.
Unfortunately, the-mum-of-two ended up being diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease twice.
“I’ve always been a private person, but I said if I get through this and I live, I want to tell people what happened and inspire them to be their own advocate,” Sherri penned for Today.com.
It wasn’t until 2017, when the first warning signs rang alarm bells for the stay-at-home mum.
She explained that life was “normal” apart from intense back pain.
The persistent symptoms caused her to pay a visit to the emergency room, where doctors found a lesion on her liver.
Despite the local gastroenterologist claiming it was “nothing to worry about”, Sherri’s gut was telling her that something was off.
“It turned out to be stage four colon cancer that had metastasised to my liver,” she penned. “I was diagnosed in early 2018.”
She had to endure a gruelling treatment plan, but she remained positive.
Her approach was to take medicine and don’t feel doomed which worked for some time as she managed to stay in remission for four years.
However, the symptoms eventually came back. Sherri said: “I lost weight. When I would use the bathroom, I would feel like I had not finished. I had painful gas.
“I was getting regular scans and told they were clear, but I had that feeling again and I just knew something was wrong.
“My oncologist said, ‘I can assure you, you do not have cancer, you are hypersensitive’. And I said, ‘No, I believe it is back’.”
Unfortunately, Sherri was right as she ended up being diagnosed with a lesion in her rectum.
This time, the tumour was larger than expected, and it had spread into her pelvic floor.
The mum felt “let down”, but she turned to her two boys and husband for support.
Sherri had to undergo surgery, chemotherapy as well as intraoperative radiotherapy, which delivers radiation while you’re on the operating table.
While her recovery has been slow, she remains positive and certain she’ll “get there”.
She added: “I’m still here and that’s what matters at the end of the day. I’d rather be here and face anything.
“I’ve got those two boys to give me all the hope in the world. They are my biggest cheerleaders.”