After suffering from heart attacks and bowel cancer, Lisa Maxwell is stronger than ever. Standing on stage in the best shape of her life for the 2021 Southern Regions Bodybuilding Championships, Lisa Maxwell felt fit, healthy and vibrant. And after battling stage four bowel cancer and suffering heart attacks caused by a rare reaction to chemotherapy just one year earlier, health is the best prize she could ask for.
Although Lisa admits that taking out first place in three categories, including the overall women’s prize, was also a highlight. “I couldn’t believe it – I have never won anything like that, it was such a rush,” says Lisa, 55, who’s excited to share her story for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month this June in the hope it will inspire others to be proactive with their health. “It’s an embarrassing cancer to talk about – it’s not glamorous at all.
But you can die from this, so I’m not afraid to speak about it. It’s important to normalise it. “I remember so clearly the day I discovered something wasn’t right in August 2020.
I had just finished work and was about to head to the gym. I went to the toilet and something felt weird. I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, what was that?’ I looked at it and there was this big blood clot on the toilet paper.
” Lisa’s dad died of bowel cancer in 2008, so she knew to take the symptom seriously . Three weeks later, Lisa was undergoing an awake colonoscopy and mid-procedure the surgeon told her it looked like canc.
