A groom who blamed his stomach issues on wedding stress claims doctors reassured him ‘you’re fine, go and get married’ – just weeks before discovering he had stage four bowel cancer. Ashley Robinson was rushed to A&E in June 2024 when he passed an ‘insane’ amount of blood in his stools. Medics allegedly told him he was ‘too young for cancer’ and diagnosed him with piles.
The 35-year-old believed the added stress of planning his and Jasmin Robinson’s ‘princess wedding’ in July 2024 coupled with working 60 hours a week to afford it was to blame. Chef Ashley, whose great-grandma died of colon cancer, said he tried to push it to the back of his mind and that even doctors said ‘you’re fine, don’t worry, go and get married’.
He claims he contacted his GP multiple times in the weeks after his wedding but was refused more appointments despite losing almost two stone [12kg] in a week. Jasmin, 27, reportedly ‘stormed into the practice’ and demanded he be seen so he was referred for a colonoscopy, which revealed a tumour the size of an orange in his colon.
The news it was stage four bowel cancer that had spread to his liver came as a ‘hammer blow’ to the newly married couple. His immunotherapy treatment began in September and by January the tumour had shrunk by 90%.Ashley told his GP about passing blood in his stool before being admitted to hospital but says he was told over the phone that his issues ‘would pass’.
Frustrated Ashley, who is still undergoing immunotherapy treatment, is now urging anyone with unusual symptoms to get them checked out. Ashley Robinson, from Dacorum, Hertfordshire, said: “In May 2024 I started passing quite a lot of blood when I was going for a number two.
“In June it started getting worse and I rang my GP but they said that it wasn’t serious, told me not to worry and that it would pass in a week or so. I told them that it had already been going on for a month but they just said to leave it another week.Personally I thought it was stress related, because it had come on rapidly while we were getting stuff ready for the wedding.
“We were planning on a ‘princess wedding’ but we were working very, very hard for it and I was working a minimum of 60 hours per week. If I didn’t have the wedding I probably would have taken it more seriously.It got really bad and I passed the most insane amount of blood so I phoned my GP and they told me to go to A&E straight away.
“When I saw the doctor I mentioned to him that my great nan had died of colon cancer but he said there was no chance and that I was too young. I went home with medication and took that for two weeks but nothing changed.
“I had my stag do coming up and the actual wedding in July, so I just pushed it to the back of mind and thought I would deal with it later. The wedding was so consuming and I was being told by every health professional that I definitely didn’t have cancer.They were saying ‘you’re fine, don’t worry, go and get married’ so I took their word for it.”
Ashley and Jasmin, who met through a mutual friend at the gym in 2019, got married at Pendley Manor, Hertfordshire, on July 20th 2024. Ashley began experiencing rapid weight loss in the weeks after the wedding – losing a whopping 12kg in just seven days.
He claims he repeatedly tried to get another appointment at his GP but they dismissed his symptoms as piles until Jasmin ‘stormed in’ demanding he be seen. In August they received the news that Ashley had stage 4 cancer.Ashley said: “I went back to my GP. I rang them three or four times and they wouldn’t see me.They said there was nothing wrong with me or that it was just piles.
“My wife went down there while I was at work. She stormed in there and forced them to see me. They got me in but my GP said they still didn’t think I had cancer, but they put me forward for a colonoscopy. That’s when they found a tumour the size of an orange in my colon.I was dreading getting the [biopsy] results back. I was told I had stage 4 colon cancer, which had spread to my liver. It was the worst news possible.
“It’s so hard to put into words the hammer blow, it absolutely crushed my wife. Aside from it happening to her, it was the worst possible news I ever could have had.”
Ashley started a course of immunotherapy treatment shortly afterwards and says even his oncologist was stunned to see the ‘incredible’ results. However, he says he feels frustrated that the cancer was missed by doctors and is urging anyone who experiences worrying symptoms to visit their GP.
Ashley said: “I couldn’t believe it. I never thought they were going to say that it had shrunk by 90%, it was incredible. Even my oncologist was stunned, she was over the moon.But if they’d found it in May then they might have been able to give me a treatment before it had spread to my liver.
“At the time it was obviously earth-shattering news, and I couldn’t contemplate what was going on but now that I’m on the mend, it’s very frustrating. I was 34 at the time so I know when something’s not right, you know your own body.When I rang the GP, I thought they would have made more of a thing of it but it just seemed like they didn’t want to know.”
Ashley is still having immunotherapy treatment and hopes to continue seeing positive results at his regular check-ups. A spokesperson for Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board said: “People are often the best judge of what’s ‘normal’ for their bodies.
” NHS advice is always to encourage anyone with worrying symptoms to seek advice and to ask again if they are still worried. If patients are concerned or unhappy about the care they receive from their GP practice, we encourage them to first of all contact their practice’s patient services team.
“If they feel that the practice hasn’t resolved their concerns, they can then get in touch with the integrated care board’s patient experience team who will discuss the options open to them. We have not previously been made aware of this case but can follow it up on the patient’s behalf if they contact us and give their permission for us to do this.”
A spokesperson for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We aim to provide outstanding care to all our patients and we are very sorry for what has happened to Mr Robinson. We would encourage him to contact the Trust directly to discuss any concerns he has with the treatment he received.
“Our thoughts are with Mr Robinson and his family at this difficult time.”