Kellie Finlayson had been living with bowel changes for years before she ever considered cancer a possibility.
The Australian teacher, influencer, and wife of former AFL player Jeremy Finlayson was young, active, and healthy, so it was natural to look for everyday explanations. Her menstrual cycle seemed like an easy answer. So did the normal adjustments of life after having a baby.
After welcoming her daughter, Sophia, those symptoms did not disappear. Bleeding continued during the postpartum period, and after looking into it herself, Finlayson believed it was part of recovery.
Three months after becoming a mother, everything changed. A colonoscopy revealed bowel cancer. Doctors first believed it was stage 3, but additional scans showed the disease had already spread, upgrading the diagnosis to stage 4. She was 25 years old.
Now 30, Finlayson continues to live with metastatic cancer, ongoing treatment, and a reality she never expected.
The Symptoms That Kept Getting Explained Away
For years, the bowel changes had reasonable-sounding answers. Being young and healthy made them easier to dismiss.
In her conversation with PEOPLE, Finlayson says the difficulty was that many symptoms did not feel unusual enough to demand urgent attention. Bowel cancer symptoms can overlap with experiences many women already associate with their menstrual cycle or postpartum recovery, making it easier to explain them away.
“It’s really hard to navigate what bowel cancer is because it’s so similar to just having a menstrual cycle, so it was really easy to just push away to the side and blame it on something else,” she said to PEOPLE.
After Sophia’s birth, the bleeding reportedly continued. Finlayson searched Google for answers and believed what she was experiencing was part of a normal recovery.
Her experience reflects a challenge researchers have examined in younger colorectal cancer patients. A peer-reviewed study involving 42 people diagnosed with colorectal cancer during pregnancy or the postpartum period found that 60 percent received their diagnoses after delivery, and 93 percent were diagnosed with stage III or IV disease.
Symptoms such as rectal bleeding and bowel changes can overlap with normal postpartum experiences, creating another layer of difficulty when identifying a serious problem.
Stage 3 to Stage 4 in Forty-Eight Hours
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The colonoscopy provided one answer. Additional scans quickly revealed a much more serious reality.
According to PEOPLE, doctors initially diagnosed Finlayson with stage 3 bowel cancer. Within 48 hours, further scans showed the cancer had spread, and her diagnosis changed to stage 4.
Treatment began immediately and involved an aggressive combination of procedures. She underwent surgery, had a temporary colostomy, received radiation, and completed nearly 80 rounds of chemotherapy. During the COVID period, she reportedly spent 12 days in intensive care, separated from Sophia and most of her family because of restrictions.
Looking back at that period, Finlayson says the goal was to remove as much cancer as possible while managing a disease that doctors believed would require long-term care.
“I got everything that I could cut out, and I also did really intense, aggressive chemotherapy for a while there,” she said.
The First Year That Was Taken
The diagnosis arrived during the exact season of life when Finlayson expected to be fully present as a new mother.
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Instead of spending those early months focused on newborn routines, she was dealing with surgeries, treatment, and recovery. Her ability to care for Sophia in the way she imagined was limited.
Finlayson said the hardest part was feeling separated from the early moments of motherhood she had imagined. During treatment, she often had to rely on others to care for Sophia, leaving her feeling like the first year with her daughter had been taken away from her.
The small moments many parents expect, night feeds, holding a crying baby and building daily routines, became difficult or impossible during a time when treatment demanded most of her energy.
The experience changed how she viewed that first year with her daughter. Instead of being defined by the beginning of motherhood, it became defined by survival and the effort to remain part of Sophia’s life.
Related: 10 Simple Habits to Recharge Your Mind and Body
When the Cancer Came Back
After intensive treatment, Finlayson’s scans showed no active tumors. Then the cancer returned.
The disease later appeared in her lungs. In June 2026, Finlayson underwent a lung wedge resection to remove small cancerous sections of tissue.
Today, she manages the cancer through ongoing treatment, including a daily oral chemotherapy tablet, oncology appointments every three weeks, and regular CT scans. She says the lung disease has shown little to no change since August 2023, with no spread to other sites reported.
Living with continuous treatment has become part of her routine. She compares the experience to the physical exhaustion of late pregnancy.
The Prognosis She Had Already Outlived
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Finlayson was not told her original prognosis at diagnosis. By the time she learned it, she had already gone beyond it.
The estimate doctors had given was 12 months, but Finlayson did not discover that information until more than 18 months after her diagnosis. She believes her medical team made that choice because they did not want the number to shape how she approached her future.
Finlayson understands that her cancer is considered terminal, but she says she does not allow that label to define every day. She has chosen to focus on the life still happening around her rather than the uncertainty ahead.
One of the things she values most is creating memories for Sophia. She has intentionally documented moments from their lives together, hoping her daughter will one day be able to look back and see the relationship they built.
“There is going to be so many things for her to look back on, and I think that that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Have you or someone close to you ever dismissed symptoms for months before finding out something serious was going on, and what finally prompted someone to push further?
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