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A 44-year-old man ignored severe stomach pain he had one weekend, after a barbecue party with family and friends, thinking it may be due to a "dodgy sausage" he had eaten. But when the pain only increased, Matt Eamer went to the emergency services only to discover a big blockage in his intestine, which was later diagnosed as stage 4 bowel cancer.
Matt said it happened when he was enjoying his son’s second birthday party when suddenly he felt a spiky pain in his tummy. While he took a painkiller to take care of the stomach cramps, he continued to feel awful.
His wife, Sarah, then insisted and took him to a hospital near their home in Surrey, where detailed tests confirmed the blockage and subsequently also reported cancer. Stomach pain, which some describe as 'gripping', is one of the first red flag symptoms of bowel cancer. He later underwent surgery to remove the mass along with six months of intense chemotherapy. However, during surgery to cut away part of his liver, surgeons also told him that cancer had spread to his peritoneum – the lining of the abdominal wall. Doctors said Matt had a BRAF mutation – a genetic alteration that causes uncontrolled cell growth – and his cancer continued to grow and spread with lightning speed.
Matt was given just months to live, but then he began taking newly approved immunotherapy drugs known as cetuximab infusion and pills – emcorafenib. Since then, he has responded well to the medicines. “I can still remember the person's voice when she phoned and said, 'The plan for your diagnosis has changed. They said, 'We're talking months, not years, from a survival point of view.' Hitting five years with stage four is a rarity,” Matt told The Sun.
