The family of a Staffordshire man who is dying of bowel cancer after being diagnosed too late has warned others never to ignore gut problems. Kevin Coles, 46, from Stoke-on-Trent, began suffering abdominal pain early last summer, but was told by doctors that it was likely a result of constipation. Despite returning to his GP on multiple occasions, he was dismissed and sent away with laxatives.
But at the end of August the father-of-seven’s health took a dramatic turn for the worse, when he began to develop jaundice – a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the liver fails to function properly. ‘He started to sweat like someone was tipping water over him and when he looked at me I noticed that he had gone completely yellow,’ said Mr Coles’s wife Kayleigh, 36. ‘Then he just vomited.’
After weeks of insisting, Mr Coles was eventually offered a scan in September last year. The family expected it to show a relatively minor problem, like gallstones, but in fact it revealed a nine-centimetre tumour in his bowel.
Kevin Coles, 46, from Staffordshire, was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer after suffering just one easily dismissed symptom. The images also showed the cancer had spread to his liver, which had triggered jaundice. He began chemotherapy the following month, but sadly the treatment failed to destroy the disease. He has since developed liver failure, and doctors have delivered the devastating news that Mr Coles may have just a few weeks to live. Speaking of her husband’s shock diagnosis, Ms Coles said: ‘He didn’t have any of the other symptoms. ‘He never got blood in his stool like in the TV adverts. ‘It has just been a shock to everybody. Even now it feels like a story. It doesn’t feel real most of the time. How can you get your head around something that happens this quickly. ‘Just five months ago we were on holiday splashing each other in the sea, now he can’t stand up unaided.’ Mr Coles has lost more than five and a half stone since his diagnosis, and has been struggling with his mobility. The family have since set up a fundraising appeal to fund adaptations to their home that would make it easier for him to get up and down the stairs.
The couple moved their wedding forward to December last year due to Mr Coles’s poor health
Kayleigh Coles said she feels ‘let down’ by the NHS after doctors dismissed her husband’s symptom several times. ‘Life has been extremely hard. I am just making sure that I have as many seconds with him as I can,’ said Ms Coles. The family feel they’ve been ‘let down’ by the NHS. ‘It is so upsetting that he was sent away countless times with laxatives,’ said Ms Coles. ‘It has been a whirlwind since the diagnosis. It is just such a shame that it wasn’t found sooner. ‘It should have been taken more seriously when he first came in with stomach pain. It was a silly mistake, and a deadly one.’It is now incurable. There isn’t anything that can be done to save him. I am having to lose my best friend because people didn’t listen to him. ‘If you have a stomach ache then get it checked out, and please don’t feel that you are being overbearing.’
Your browser does not support iframes. The couple, who met over eight years ago at a train station, were set to be married in August of this year. But, with Mr Coles’s diagnosis, the couple decided not to wait and had a small ceremony in December 2024. ‘We just didn’t want to not be man and wife anymore,’ said Ms Coles. ‘We have always been very close but we are inseparable now.’ The telltale signs of bowel cancer include any change in bowel habit – including having softer stools, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual, according to the NHS. Other symptoms include bleeding from the back passage, blood in your stool, bloating, abdominal pain and losing weight or feeling very tired for no reason.The health service advises seeing a GP if you have any symptoms of bowel cancer for three weeks or more.
