Jenny Duncan, 45, is opening up about her battle with bowel cancer and the regret she feels for hiding her symptoms from her doctor out of embarrassment.

Her first signs appeared while on vacation in Lanzarote in 2019, but she dismissed them. Starting a new job as a head teacher in the UK, she attributed her stomach aches and blood on the toilet paper to stress and excitement.

Jenny even took photos to track the bleeding but didn’t tell anyone until her husband accidentally saw one of the pictures. Alarmed, he urged her to seek medical help, and soon after she was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer.

“I thought bowel cancer only happened to older men,” Jenny admitted. She had also been experiencing bloating, gas, and fatigue but blamed it on her heavy workload. Embarrassment kept her from speaking openly with her doctor.

She began chemotherapy just as COVID-19 hit the UK, leaving her to face treatments and surgery largely alone. Though her tumor disappeared, she was told in 2022 that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and was now incurable.

The news devastated her. “I absolutely lost it. I kept saying, ‘I’m going to die,’” Jenny recalled. After a period of withdrawal, she returned to work and focused on spending time with her adult sons.

Today, Jenny lives with stage 4 bowel cancer and undergoes regular scans. If her condition worsens, she will restart treatment. Despite the uncertainty, she says, “I’m grateful for every day.”

She hopes her story will encourage others not to ignore or hide symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic, warning signs of bowel cancer include blood in the stool, abdominal pain, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and changes in bowel habits.