A father was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer after experiencing a horrifying moment in front of his wife. Kev Burton, 46, had been complaining about tummy pain for weeks – but claims he was dismissed by doctors.
He has now been told his condition is incurable and he is on chemotherapy to try and keep him alive for as long as possible. And speaking to BristolLive, his wife, Kayleigh, who married Kev in December before it was too late, spoke about the time she knew something was seriously wrong.
Skin change
She said: “There was a moment where me and Kev were outside and he went yellow in front of my eyes. He started vomiting profusely and he was sweating uncontrollably so much so it looked like he was under a shower and he was in crippling pain. I immediately rang 999 for an ambulance. However, we waited for ages for it to arrive. The pain settled down and Kev just wanted a sleep so he told me to cancel the ambulance.”
According to the NHS, skin turning yellow can be a symptom of bowel cancer, especially if it has spread to the liver. Kev would later find out his liver area had been affected.
Symptoms
The yellowing skin happened on September 3, 2024, but it was in June of that year where he began to suffer his main symptom – tummy pain.
Kev, who has seven kids with Kayleigh aged from 24 to eight, described how the pain was high in his stomach and there were days where he couldn’t stand up straight. He said it was constant and there would be peaks where it was “unbearable and I’d be doubled over in pain”.
Dismissed
According to the NHS, tummy pain is one of the main symptoms of bowel cancer, and they encourage anyone experiencing symptoms for three or more weeks to see a GP.
However, unfortunately for Kev, this proved frustrating. He told this publication: “Being only 45 at the time, GPs and doctors at A&E disregarded how bad it could be and didn’t even factor in that it could be cancer. We want to raise awareness because age shouldn’t be an issue. The symptoms I had were disregarded because I was only 45… it isn’t right.”
A study published by The Lancet Oncology found the UK has the fastest rise in under-50s developing bowel cancer in Europe. Dr Yin Cao said: “Early-onset colorectal cancer is a growing global phenomenon. But at the same time, it is still rare.”
Kev claims he was told his symptoms could be anything from constipation, gall stones to IBS and no scans were taken, despite him once needing oral morphine to control the pain.
The dad, who is from Staffordshire, first went to a GP on July 30 and said he had experienced stomach pain for six weeks but he was sent home with laxatives. Follow up visits on August 22 and September 7 also resulted in no action.
Eventually a scan was done, and Kev said: “Kayleigh had to chase it up and without her I’d probably still be waiting for a scan.”
Diagnosis
Kev was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer after a scan and he was warned that chemotherapy might kill him. His aggressive cancer also spread to the liver. Recalling the devastating moment, he said: “When we found out the diagnosis I was shocked and couldn’t really speak. Kayleigh broke down and cried. We both didn’t think it could be cancer.”
He had seven rounds of chemo to stabilise his cancer but stopped in recent months because his blood results were unstable after catching an infection. Kev started a new form of chemotherapy on Monday and his wife shared that the goal is now not to find a cure but to prolong his life.
GoFundMe
Before their lives were “turned upside down,” Kev and Kayleigh trained dogs and looked after animals, but they both had to stop working.
Kayleigh has started a GoFundMe to make his remaining time as comfortable as possible and giving an insight, she told us: “Kev is so poorly that he needs help with most things. I want him to have as much of a life as possible.
“He is in so much pain that most things are too exhausting for him. He can’t even eat. He’s lost 35kg in the five months between finding out and now. It’s been such a shocking change to us all. But I just want us all to have the best memories possible for however long we have left with him.”
To make a donation to Kev’s GoFundMe page, you can do so here