Wife of dad-of-three Russell Cranwell, 36, hopes to save lives after his bowel cancer battle

A young Adelaide dad with three daughters has died after doctors brushed off his cancer symptoms for years. His wife is now pleading for others to fight for their health.

When father-of-three Russell Cranwell first went to his doctor with blood in his stool in 2017, his concerns were brushed off as haemorrhoids.

It was actually a deadly tumour.

Two weeks ago, Mr Cranwell said his final goodbye to his wife and three beautiful daughters, aged two, four and six, after a cruel 16-month battle with bowel cancer.

Mr Cranwell’s childhood sweetheart Rachael Cranwell is now bravely urging others to advocate for themselves after his death, believing the love of her life could still be alive today if the cancer had been detected seven years ago.

“The doctors said: ‘It’s just haemorrhoids, don’t worry about it, you don’t need to look at it’,” Mrs Cranwell said.

“So every time he had those symptoms again, he kind of just thought the same thing and never, never really worried about it.”

Father-of-three Russell Cranwell, 36, with his wife Rachael and daughters Ashton, Hallie and Josie. Picture: Wildfields Photography

Mr Cranwell’s wife said he fought “until the very end”. Picture: Supplied by family

It wasn’t until September 2022, when Mr Cranwell’s health deteriorated, that he returned to the doctor and learned he had a grapefruit-sized tumour in his bowel.

“He kind of just started having severe stomach issues and constipation and was passing mucous and blood,” Mrs Cranwell said.

“He obviously went to the doctor and they gave him antibiotics for parasites … initially they thought it was an STD and all this other random stuff.

“It wasn’t until his second presentation to the ED where we pushed and said: ‘There’s something seriously wrong here’.

“The tumour was nine centimetres by that point and it had invaded on all the different layers of the bowel, into the liver and through the lymphatic system.”

Mr Cranwell underwent fortnightly chemotherapy treatment from December 2022 to August 2023, until it stopped working and the cancer progressed.

On January 4, he died surrounded by family.

“We just took every day as it came. We thought: ‘Just because the writing’s on the wall, doesn’t mean we have to read it’,” Mrs Cranwell said.

“We never, ever, ever lost hope, right until the very end.”

A “down-to-earth, hard working bloke” who lived for his family, Mr Cranwell — a cabinet maker by trade — received his diagnosis just after his youngest daughter, Josie, turned one.

The Cranwell family spent Christmas at the Laurel Hospice at Flinders Medical Centre in 2022. Picture: Supplied by family.

Mrs Cranwell hopes Russell’s story could help save someone else’s life. Picture: Wildfields Photography

The handyman had just begun renovating the Sheidow Park family’s dream backyard, to give his little girls a place to play and grow.

That dream was never fulfilled.

“I’ve been with him since I was 16, he’s just the best person I’ve ever known. I’ve never come across anyone else like him,” Mrs Cranwell said.

“He just wanted to make our house the best place he possibly could for our girls – he even made a concrete bath that would fit the three of them in it.

“Any little thing he could do, he would do. He was just really, really proud and was so intent on giving our daughters the best possible life.

“I think that’s the hardest part for me. All he ever wanted was the best for them, and now he can’t do that.”

Mrs Cranwell is now pleading for others to fight for their health, hoping her husband’s story could help save someone else’s life.

“You really do have to advocate for yourself and if you think something’s wrong, go and find the cause – don’t just allow the doctors to give you a guess diagnosis,” she said.

Family friend Cassie Burton has launched a fundraiser to help finish Russell’s backyard project, to complete the final piece of his legacy.

If you would like to donate to the Cranwell family’s fundraiser, you can do so here.