'Doctors said it was just pelvic pain ... the reality was so much worse'

“I couldn’t go to the grocery store to get food, I didn’t have the energy to cook, and I remember getting up in the middle of the night a couple of times in excruciating pain and just hopping in the shower for a few hours."

Joel Erickson

5 min read

June 20, 2024 - 11:03AM

Colon cancer cases increasing among adults under 50

Family Life

Don't miss out on the headlines from Family Life. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Gypsy Wilby was over the moon when she found out she was pregnant with her first child.

The mum-to-be had left her job in the hopes of having a baby, and seeing the positive pregnancy test was a dream come true.

The first part of her pregnancy was completely normal. She was “tired” through the first six weeks, but she didn’t experience any morning sickness.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

However, that all changed just after the 12-week mark, when she started to feel “really sick”.

“I couldn’t get out of bed for a whole week,” she said. “It was the strangest thing, I’d never been that sick my whole life.

“I just thought it would eventually go away and that I’d start to feel better, but it just kept getting worse and worse.”

Gypsy was over the moon when she found out she was pregnant with her first child. Picture: GoFundMe

"I'd be awake all night in excruciating pain"

Gypsy, from Melbourne, decided to visit her sister in Sydney to take her mind off her illness, and it seemed to work for the week.

“I don’t remember feeling sick when I was there, but then as soon as I got home it was back to being sick,” she said.

“I was so tired, there would be nights where I’d be awake all night, and I’d just fall straight back to sleep in the morning.”

Gypsy put up with it for six more weeks until it just got to be too much. She moved back into her parents home so they could give her around-the-clock care during the latter stages of her pregnancy.

She saw several doctors after she’d moved back home, but was just told her pain was “normal” pelvic pain.

“They just said pelvic pain was very common in pregnancy, but I wasn’t seeing other pregnant women walking around in as much pain as me,” Gypsy said.

“But I didn’t have any bleeding or discharge at that point, so they just told me I was fine.”

Gypsy gave birth to Ivy via C-section before undergoing major surgery herself. Picture: Supplied

"The pain just kept getting worse and worse"

Gypsy eventually got to see an obstetrician, who finally ordered an ultrasound.

That was when Gypsy found the cause of her pain: a 12-centimetre mass in her ovary.

“She told me it looked like a degenerating fibroid, and the pain I was experiencing was because it was dying,” she said.

“She said the pain should subside within a week, but the pain just got worse and worse.

“The doctor checked in with me a week later, and I told her I was in excruciating pain. She got me to come back that day for another scan.”

The scan revealed bad news. The growth on Gypsy’s ovary had grown from 12cm to 19cm in just a week.

She was told to go straight to hospital, but once there she was once again just sent home with painkillers.

Gypsy was forced to move back in her with her parents so they could provide around-the-clock care. Picture: Supplied

"I just thought they were being ridiculous"

Two days later, Gypsy fell like her stomach was “tearing open from the inside”, and that “all my organs would fall onto the bathroom floor”, so her mum called for an ambulance.

It wasn’t until this trip to hospital that Gypsy would finally learn what was wrong: she had cancer.

“I just thought they were being ridiculous,” she said.

“I don’t have cancer. I’m pregnant, I’m too young, and I’m super healthy.”

Gypsy was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and required chemotherapy while still pregnant with her daughter, Ivy.

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Eventually she gave birth via caesarean-section, which went straight into major surgery to remove the cancerous mass.

“They told me I had to do six months of chemo, and then I’d be considered cured,” she said.

Gypsy settled into ‘normal’ mum life with Ivy, but her pain returned almost 12 months to the day after her surgery.

“I kept telling my doctor I had the pain on my right side again, but I wondered if it was phantom pain,” Gypsy said.

“She told me everything was fine, and they took some bloods which came up as normal.”

Gypsy has vowed to do whatever it takes to find a cure for her cancer. Picture: Supplied

"They've said the only thing they can offer me now is chemo"

Despite this, Gypsy still felt like something was wrong, and after another six months her blood results showed that her cancer had come back in the same spot.

Gypsy has a 4.5cm mass in her right side, and the cancer has now spread to her left ovary and a lymph node.

“It’s not good,” Gypsy said.

“They’ve told me the only thing they can offer me now is chemotherapy, but it’s not a cure, it’s just to prolong my life.

“Eventually when the drugs stop working, or my body builds up resistance, they’ll just switch drugs.”

But Gypsy isn’t willing to give up without fighting for as much of a chance to spend her life as a mum to her precious Ivy.

The family has started a GoFundMe to raise money for Gypsy to go to Mexico for alternative, targeted therapies not offered in Australia.

If that doesn’t work, Gypsy fully intends to look into targeted treatments offered in the United States.

“Otherwise my only option is chemotherapy, and it’s not a cure,” Gypsy said.

“It’s just to prolong my life, but I just want the cancer to go away altogether.”

Gypsy said her health story was proof people, especially women, shouldn’t be worried about advocating for their own health.

“I think now I’d be more comfortable about looking to help myself as opposed to waiting for somebody else to help me,” she said.

“I would always kind of wait to see what would happen and what the doctor would offer me, but now I’m taking the initiative and doing everything I can to help myself.”