'I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in pregnancy'

A woman who was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was eight months pregnant has described how her first thought was to deliver her baby safely.

Nikki Penrice, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, gave birth to a daughter, suffered a perforated bowel and had emergency surgery within the space of 12 days.

She said her daughter Connie, now aged three, was a "miracle" and helped to save her life.

Ms Penrice, who has had chemotherapy and a stoma reversal, is preparing to run a Cancer Research UK Race for Life event again later this year.

During the pregnancy in 2021, she was in hospital several times for hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition causing extreme nausea.

She added: "When I was around eight months pregnant, I was in terrible pain, so the John Radcliffe Hospital offered me a scan which highlighted a mass on my bowel.

"During the procedure, the doctor put his hand on my shoulder and said he was sorry, so I knew it wasn't good news and that it was cancer.

"My first thought was for my baby as I just wanted to get her here safely.

"Then I was numb and went into autopilot as I tried to get through each day and each hurdle that we faced."

Doctors opted to induce her on 21 December before tackling the tumour a month later when she had regained her strength.

However, on 2 January she returned to hospital in severe pain, before her bowel suddenly perforated and she underwent life-saving surgery.

She cared for her baby while recuperating on the ward, recalling: "I had to be fed through a central line in my neck which made holding and feeding Connie very difficult."

In 2023, the mother of two lost her father Anthony Potter, who died just 17 days after he was also diagnosed with cancer.

She said: "Before he passed away, we told him we were going to do Pretty Muddy (a Cancer Research UK event] and he responded with 'You can't do that!'

"But we did it and we wore his picture on our T-shirts so we had him with us on the course.

"My experience and his has taught me that we have to go and enjoy every day and make the most of everything.

"Together, my family and I will think of him as we take part in the Pretty Muddy obstacle course and I know I will overcome all the hurdles, just as I did when I faced cancer."

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.