My heartburn turned out to be rare and aggressive stomach cancer,
For over a year and a half Chloe Sterling repeatedly suffered from debilitating heartburn that could last days at a time.
But when she tried to get an appointment with her GP, she was handed a prescription for acid indigestion tablets without being seen.
‘Through the medication and avoiding classic triggers, like greasy food or alcohol, I was able to manage it for a while,’ says the 31-year-old nurse from Liverpool.
However, in December 2024 her symptoms became unbearable and, along with the heartburn, she began to experience stomach and back pain.
Having just started taking weight-loss jab Mounjaro – at the time she was very overweight – she assumed that was the cause.
As a precaution, she halted the injections and went to her local A&E. There, at Chloe’s request, doctors performed an endoscopy – where a camera is passed into the stomach via the mouth. They reassured her the pain was nothing more than an infection.
Chloe was sent away with antibiotics – but her condition continued to deteriorate.
‘My heartburn just kept getting worse, and it was really causing me problems on a daily basis. I pushed my GP to refer me to a gut specialist, who just told me that I was anxious,’ she says.
It wasn’t until a routine follow-up endoscopy, 18 months after her symptoms had first started, that the true cause of her symptoms was revealed.
Chloe suffered from heartburn for over a year and after a visit to hospital was told she had an infection and was sent home with antibiotics
Chloe went through four rounds of chemotherapy and then had her entire stomach removed during a seven-hour operation
‘I had a bad case of the flu at the time, so when the doctor called to give me the results, I insisted they gave them to me on the phone – that’s when they told me I had cancer,’ says Chloe.
‘In that moment you are told, it almost doesn’t feel like it’s real, it’s like you are watching it happen to someone else, but it is actually, unfortunately, your life.’
Chloe was diagnosed with signet ring cell adenocarcinoma – a rare and aggressive form of stomach cancer that can grow rapidly.
It is named after the distinctive shape of the cancer cells when looked at under a microscope, which resemble signet rings – and can be difficult to detect, as it often doesn’t form distinct tumours like other types.
There was some hope, however, as Chloe’s cancer had been caught early before it had started to spread.
Her treatment started straight away. It included chemotherapy and a seven-hour total gastrectomy – the full removal of her stomach.
‘They said it would be in my best interests to remove the entire stomach, and my mindset was that I wanted the cancer out of my body,’ says Chloe.
‘I would do anything to be alive, so I thought: “I’ve got no choice – I just thought I’ve got to get through it“.’
After the surgery she was in intensive care for three days before starting on the long road to recovery, which included having to learn how to eat again.
Now Chloe is cancer free, but receiving regular check-ups to ensure it has not returned
Today, Chloe is cancer-free, but receiving regular check-ups to ensure it has not returned.
‘I do feel lucky that without my medical background, I definitely would not have been so persistent or known exactly which tests to ask for, which meant it was caught early,’ says Chloe.
However, as it is an aggressive form of cancer, there is a chance the disease may return despite the surgery.
Overall, just 37 per cent of patients with signet ring cell adenocarcinoma survive for five years after their diagnosis. For those diagnosed at stage four, the most advanced stage of cancer, that number drops to around seven per cent.
For decades, stomach cancer was considered a disease of old age, most commonly affecting people over 65, particularly smokers.
Since the 2010s, however, cases have risen among under-50s by around one per cent each year. Cases are increasing twice as fast among women, by about three per cent per year.
Charities say that the rise in young people being diagnosed is a trend they have certainly noticed in recent years.
‘I have been involved in this area for a decade, and when I started I would often to speak to children who’s parents had been diagnosed but now it is almost entirely people aged 30-50 who themselves have the disease,’ says Sheena Dewan, Director of Stomach Cancer UK.
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Researchers believe that the bacteria H. pylori could be to blame for the disturbing rise.
Around 40 per cent of people carry the bacteria in their stomach and, while for the majority it does not trigger symptoms, it can cause stomach ulcers, indigestion, bloating or nausea.
Left untreated experts believe that this can raise the risk of stomach cancer.
Last week, though, the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Social Care (Nice) approved a new drug to treat the condition.
The decision was hailed as the ‘first major advance’ in stomach cancer treatment for nearly a decade.
The immunotherapy drug durvalumab, also known as Imfinzi and made by AstraZeneca, is to be used by the NHS for adults whose stomach cancer has not spread extensively and can be surgically removed.
Immunotherapy helps harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Trials have shown that durvalumab along with chemotherapy can increase the amount of time people have before their cancer progresses, and has also been shown to increase survival.
Experts say that the drug will make a real difference to patients when it is rolled out on the NHS.
Wasat Mansoor, Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘Gastric cancers continue to be challenging to treat, particularly at earlier stages, with a risk of recurrence even after surgery and chemotherapy.
‘The trial results are particularly meaningful, showing that a durvalumab-based perioperative regimen improved patient outcomes.’
Chloe welcomed the new drug. ‘I will never know whether it could have helped me, but given how effective it is at stopping recurrence it could make a real difference,’ she says. ‘I know from personal experience just how important that is.’
