A 39-year-old mother says a routine blood donation ultimately led to a life-saving cancer diagnosis after doctors discovered she had low iron. Although she felt unusually tired, she assumed it was simply the result of being a busy working mom and didn’t suspect anything more serious.

During follow-up testing, Laura Jackson underwent two positive fecal immunochemical tests (FIT), which detect hidden blood in the stool. She was then referred for a colonoscopy, where doctors found a 5-centimeter tumor in her large intestine. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer, later reclassified from stage 2 to stage 3, and underwent surgery to remove a third of her bowel, followed by chemotherapy.

Looking back, Laura realized she had occasionally experienced severe stomach cramps and episodes of diarrhea, but they occurred only a few times a year, so she never thought they were a warning sign. She now believes those episodes were caused by a partial bowel obstruction created by the tumor. Today, she has no evidence of cancer but will continue regular monitoring for the next five years.

Laura is sharing her story to encourage others not to ignore unexplained symptoms or abnormal test results. She especially wants people to be aware of the FIT test, which can detect hidden blood in the stool before bowel cancer causes obvious symptoms. While fatigue and digestive issues can have many causes, persistent or unexplained changes should always be discussed with a healthcare professional.