‘I was naive’: Kellie Finlayson ignored her symptoms and it had devastating results

Kellie Finlayson ignored her bowel cancer symptoms for years. Now she's made it her mission to ensure no one else does the same.

Left, Kellie Finlayson in hospital with her daughter Sophia, and right, with Sophia and husband Jeremy.

Kellie Finlayson may not know how much time she has left, but she knows how she wants to use it – to save lives.

Diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer at just 25 years old, Kellie signed on with the Jodi Lee Foundation to raise awareness for the nation’s second-leading cancer killer and encourage others to “trust their gut”.

Experiencing bowel cancer symptoms while in her early twenties, Kellie brushed her pain off believing she was suffering with a food intolerance.

The 27-year-old said cancer “never even crossed her mind”.

“I was in full denial,” she said. “I was naive, I didn’t really understand what cancer really was.

“The only time you really hear about cancer is in old people and they die but … I (didn’t) feel sick.”

Kellie Finlayson, with husband Jeremy and daughter Sophia. is partnering with the Jodi Lee Foundation to launch a new symptom checker for bowel cancer. Picture: Supplied

Kellie Finlayson in hospital Picture: Supplied

In March 2020 Kellie provided a stool sample at the doctors and the results came back with a “discrepancy”. Immediately she was booked in for a colonoscopy.

Living in Melbourne at the time, Covid restrictions meant Kellie’s “elective surgery” was cancelled – she never rescheduled.

“Me being young and naive, I was like yeah whatever I’ll do it when Covid’s over,” she said.

“I forgot about it because I became pregnant at the end of that year.”

It wasn’t until November 2021, three months after giving birth to her “beautiful girl” Sophia, did Kellie return to the doctor.

“Jeremy (her husband) was sick of me needing to go to the toilet all the time,” she said.

“I’d go … and nothing would come out.”

Kellie said she was “lucky” to find a female doctor who booked her immediately to see a specialist and two days later a colonoscopy.

That week doctors found a softball-sized tumour in her bowel – it was stage three bowel cancer.

Then after more tests and scans, Kellie’s cancer changed to stage four.

Kellie said with the support around her she wasn’t necessarily “scared” of what she would inevitably have to endure.

“I was scared in a sense that I didn’t want Jeremy to be a single dad, but other than that, it just didn’t feel real.”

In December 2022 Kellie found out her cancer had spread to her chest. Picture: Supplied,

After a brave fight and gruelling rounds of treatment, Kellie “completely removed” herself from the disease.

“I had my (stoma) reversal in September (2022) and that was me done,” she said.

Even when Kellie started feeling tightness in her chest she didn’t think it could be cancer again – but it was.

“I said at the end of my first treatment, if it comes back I’m never doing that again,” she said.

“(The treatment) was the worst part … cancer has never made me sick. I’ve never been in pain, nothing’s ever been wrong with me when I’ve had the cancer but when I did get the treatment I was the sickest person in the world.”

In December 2022 she visited Port Lincoln hospital alone where the doctors found a large mass in her chest cavity.

“Once I walked out of the room I just absolutely broke down,” she said. “It was like sh*t, here we go again.”

Kellie Finlayson at the Jodi Lee Foundation – Little Black Dress Ball, Adelaide Convention Centre. Picture: Emma Brasier

Kellie now faces the fight of her life as she continues to battle stage four cancer. Picture: Supplied

With her husband and Port Adelaide star Jeremy Finlayson by her side, Kellie now faces the fight of her life. But, with unimaginable bravery and selflessness, she has decided her battle won’t just be about her.

As face of the Jodi Lee Foundation’s ‘Trust Your Gut’ campaign, Kellie will help launch a nation-first online symptom checker to encourage those experiencing symptoms – particularly young people – to start the conversation with their GPs.

“If I had this symptom checker at my fingertips when I was experiencing constipation, abdominal pains and blood in my poo, things could have looked a lot different for me,” Kellie said.

“I completely understand that the symptoms are so generic and so easy to pass off as something else but if you’ve got them, why not get checked?

“You could literally save your life just by trusting your gut.”

To check your symptoms go to www.trustyourgut.com.au

Originally published as ‘I was naive’: Kellie Finlayson ignored her symptoms and it had devastating results