AN “amazing” mum-of-three whose “face lit up every room” died just months after complaining of a stomach ache, which doctors initially blamed on endometriosis.
Laura Barlow was eventually diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer and passed away two weeks later.
Laura Barlow, 33, with husband Mike and three children, passed away on February 5Supplied
Complaining of intense stomach pain, she was initially diagnosed with endometriosis but told in January she had advanced bowel cancerSupplied
The 33-year-old, from Lincolnshire, first went to her GP in October last year.
But after months of intense pain and repeated trips to A&E, she was told she had aggressive bowel cancer, which had spread to her liver.
The mum drew her last breath just days after being told her cancer was too far advanced for treatment.
Laura’s sister Lisa Codd, 42, told Sun Health: “It was two weeks from diagnosis to her passing, to the day.”
Laura leaves behind three young daughters: Bella-Mia, nine, Summer Skye, two and Bonnie Rae, one.
She and her husband Mike hadn’t even been married a year, tying the knot in April 2023.
Her heartbroken family are now demanding answers as to why Laura’s cancer wasn’t spotted sooner.
Lisa criticised the “massive failures” in her sister’s care and hopes speaking out will “help stop another family going through what we’re going through”.
Laura’s husband Mike Barlow, 52, said it all started at the end of October 2023, when the mum-of-three started experiencing stomach pain after “twisting her back” while lifting their youngest.
“She was fit as a fiddle until then,” Mike told Sun Health.
Laura called her local GP surgery and was diagnosed with endometriosis via telephone consultation and prescribed medication, which did nothing to ease her pain.
Kaitlin Barlow, 27, Mike’s daughter from a previous relationship, recalled the mum’s condition just “getting worse and worse”, despite continued trips to her GP.
“She was in so much pain for quite a long time but it was just backwards and forwards all the time,” she said.
Laura went back to her doctor after noticing blood in her stool – a telltale symptom of bowel cancer.
But Lisa claims doctors didn’t ask for a stool sample or order blood tests.
“What do we see constantly in the news – you have blood in your stool, you go to the GP to rule out bowel cancer,” she said.
In December, Laura was referred to a gynaecologist for endometriosis, but the appointment was scheduled for months later on February 21.
That same month, Mike took Laura back to her GP after she was “doubled over with pain” at work.
They were told to go straight to urgent care.
She was absolutely crippled in pain, so much so she couldn’t even talk
Lisa Codd
The mum was given morphine for the pain and sent home.
Mike said they were told that nothing else could be done to help because Laura’s GP was already treating her for endometriosis.
But Lisa had to take her sister to A&E on New Year’s Eve.
“She was absolutely crippled in pain, so much so she couldn’t even talk,” she said.
Lisa, a nurse, questioned why doctors weren’t looking for other causes behind Laura agony and urged them to do further tests.
Laura had her blood tested at A&E and was booked to go to Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) on January 2.
There, medics performed an ultrasound and CT scan, which showed thickening of Laura’s bowel and lesions on her liver.
The mum was booked in for further tests over the next few days – an MRI of her liver and an endoscopy – but “within that time, things were just getting worse”, Lisa recalled.
“Her belly was starting to swell,” she added.
At one point, Laura was so weak and dehydrated she “nearly collapsed”, Mike said.
Red flag bowel cancer symptoms
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
A change in your normal toilet habits – going more frequently for example
Pain or a lump in your tummy
Extreme tiredness
Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs of bowel cancer include:
Gripping pains in the abdomen
Feeling bloated
Constipation and being unable to pass wind
Being sick
Laura and her family were given the devastating news on January 23 that she had bowel cancer.
Though she felt broken, Laura was determined to fight the disease, asking for treatment to allow her to be there for her three children.
“All she wanted to do was spend time with the kids,” her husband remembered.
But she was dealt yet another blow on February 2, when she was told her cancer was so far advanced that it was beyond treatment.
Looking back, Mike said: “I’m annoyed, because if they’d done any tests in November, we could have tried and helped with chemo.
“You can’t diagnose people over the phone.”
By the time Laura’s cancer was spotted, it had spread so rapidly from her bowel to her liver that doctors said they couldn’t attempt chemotherapy and there was nothing more they could do.
“We’re still very angry,” Lisa added.
“She had classic signs [of bowel cancer], blood in her stools and the GP did nothing.”
A heartbreaking goodbye
Laura was told she wouldn’t be able to get treatment for her cancer on the morning of February 2.
By the afternoon, the family left for Center Parcs to spend precious time together.
They returned on February 5 and Laura started deteriorating quickly. She passed away later that day in her husband’s arms.
Mike said: “I think she waited to come home. We didn’t know it was going to be this quick.”
Kaitlin added: “My dad got home with Laura, he put the bed downstairs because she couldn’t really walk, and then that night he got in bed with her and she took her last breath.”
Mike told the children their mum was with the angels in the sky.
The family hope telling Laura’s story will help save other people’s lives.
Wanting to give Laura the send off she deserves, Kaitlin set up a fundraising campaign to raise money for her funeral and to help her family through this difficult time.
Kaitlin remembers Laura as “incredible”.
“I’ve never seen my dad so happy. Her face just lit up every room. She was amazing,” she said.
The family is still reeling from Laura’s loss, having had hope until the very end that her cancer would be able to be treated.
“I feel like I’m in a dream. I just can’t get my head around it,” Kaitlin said.
Lisa misses the nightly FaceTimes she’d have with Laura and the messages she’d receive from her every morning.
She said she will remember her “baby sister and best friend” through her three little girls.
“One of them smiles like her, one of them’s got the rosy cheeks she used to have and one of them’s got her curly hair,” she said.
Lisa hopes her sister’s story “can help anybody else from ever going through this again”.
SuppliedLaura and Mike tied the knot in April 2023[/caption]
Her three daughters Bella-Mia, nine, Summer Skye, two and Bonnie Rae, oneSupplied