Zowie noticed her belly button had turned purple as she checked-out her abs.
A mum-of-two has bravely released harrowing photos of her scarred stomach following surgery to remove a mango-sized tumour that turned her belly button purple.
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Zowie noticed her belly button had turned purple as she checked-out her abs.
But sadly for the nursery nurse worker, of Woodford Green, east London, it was a sign of the stage four ovarian cancer she was diagnosed with five months later – and she needed her womb and ovaries removed to beat it.
She continued: “If I had waited to start my family at a more ‘acceptable’ age, not at 18, I would never have had the honour to be mummy to my two little beauties.”
“It wasn’t bothering me, so I thought I would leave it. But I became more aware of my belly button, it felt like it was pulling,” she said.
After her stomach was scanned, she was referred as an NHS patient to Spire London East Hospital in Woodford.
But, during the procedure, medics struggled to find her cervix, and said they wanted an expert to take a closer look.
Eventually, in mid-January, Zowie was referred to an oncologist at Queens Hospital in Romford, east London.
“Hearing that I needed a bag to collect waste was probably the most devastating part of it all for me,” she added.
“I don’t worry that the cancer is still there,” she said. “I wanted to be able to be a mum to my girls, to play with them and look after them. I didn’t take the decision lightly.”
Gym bunny Zowie Gallagher, 29, was admiring her toned abs when she noticed her belly button had darkened and turned into an ‘outie’.
Initially, she thought it was a hernia, where an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue, which can create a swollen lump in the stomach.
Warning graphic image: Zowie after her ileostomy surgery (PA Photo)
But sadly for the nursery nurse worker, of Woodford Green, east London, it was a sign of the stage four ovarian cancer she was diagnosed with five months later – and she needed her womb and ovaries removed to beat it.
Now Zowie, who says she is thankful she had daughter Lily, now 10, when she was a teenager, is sharing her shocking photos to help other women diagnosed with cancer young.
She explained: “I want to share my story and my graphic photos so people know they are not alone when going through something like this, like me, so young. My diagnosis led to me having a hysterectomy at just 28.”
Zowie after surgery, showing her hair loss (PA Photo)
She continued: “If I had waited to start my family at a more ‘acceptable’ age, not at 18, I would never have had the honour to be mummy to my two little beauties.”
Spending hours in the gym to keep her svelte size 10 body toned, Zowie was the picture of health.
So, feeling perfectly well, she was baffled when she first noticed her belly button begin to protrude and turn purple in June last year.
Zowie earlier this month with Amelia (PA Photo)
“It wasn’t bothering me, so I thought I would leave it. But I became more aware of my belly button, it felt like it was pulling,” she said.
By September, she had grown concerned, and so decided to consult a doctor.
“I’d just got my body to where I wanted it to be. I’d slimmed down from a size 14 to a 10 and felt amazing in myself,” Zowie, also mum to Amelia, five, said.
She continued: “But then I noticed that when I moved suddenly my belly button felt strange, like it was bulky.
“It had started to get painful, like it was pulling.”
At her appointment, Zowie was told that she could have a hernia and was sent for an ultrasound.
Zowie on her birthday, wearing a wig (PA Photo)
After her stomach was scanned, she was referred as an NHS patient to Spire London East Hospital in Woodford.
There, she was booked in for a CT scan to investigate further after a mass was spotted.
As she waited, she underwent a routine smear test, which women have every three years.
Warning graphic image: Zowie's stomach after surgery to fit her ileostomy bag (PA Photo)
But, during the procedure, medics struggled to find her cervix, and said they wanted an expert to take a closer look.
From there, she had a CT scan on January 2, followed by another CT scan and the ultrasound she’d been waiting for at Spire London East Hospital on January 3.
But there, medics thought they saw a tumour.
Zowie at her first CT scan (PA Photo)
Eventually, in mid-January, Zowie was referred to an oncologist at Queens Hospital in Romford, east London.
“I couldn’t understand why I could need to see a cancer specialist when I felt so fit and healthy,” she said.
“I felt the best I had ever felt in my whole life. I was in the gym a lot, looked great, could wear tight fitting clothes and feel fabulous.”
But Zowie’s bubble burst when, after an MRI scan, biopsy and blood tests, she was told not only did she have stage three ovarian cancer, but doctors had found a 14cm tumour, the size of a mango, on her pelvis.
“I was devastated,” she continued. “They said I would need to have my womb, ovaries, my omentum – which is fatty tissue in the tummy – and belly button removed.
“Losing all these organs meant I would never be able to have more children, so I was just so thankful I already had two, beautiful girls, my first when I was 18. I love being a mum, so it would have been earth-shattering for me if I had never had that chance.”
Two weeks after her bombshell diagnosis, on February 8, Zowie went under the knife for an eight-hour operation at The Royal London Hospital.
When she woke up, doctors broke more devastating news – there had been a complication and they had to remove part of her bowel, meaning she had to have a colostomy, to divert one end of the colon through an opening in her tummy.
And in July this year the stoma was removed and she had an ileostomy bag fitted to remove her bowel waste.
Zowie's toned stomach a month before she was diagnosed (PA Photo)
“Hearing that I needed a bag to collect waste was probably the most devastating part of it all for me,” she added.
“They also told me because of the size of the tumour, the cancer had been reclassified as stage 4B, and not stage 3.”
In April 2018, Zowie stared three rounds of aggressive chemotherapy – which, in the end, she begged doctors to stop because of the pain and side effects like feeling sick and extreme pain whilst walking.
Zowie's purple belly button, after diagnosis (PA Photo)
“I don’t worry that the cancer is still there,” she said. “I wanted to be able to be a mum to my girls, to play with them and look after them. I didn’t take the decision lightly.”
Now, adapting to life with her ileostomy bag, she is focused on enjoying time with her daughters.
Currently, she is being regularly monitored to ensure the cancer does not return undetected.
Zowie and daughters Lily, left, and Amelia, right (PA Photo)
She was also expressed her thanks for the support she received from Macmillan Cancer Support through the Macmillan Centre at Queens Hospital.
Macmillan Cancer Support were able to help her by providing a wig as she went through chemotherapy, and her family with a grant to help with daily living costs.
Join Macmillan’s coffee morning with M&S this September, visit www.macmillan.org.uk/coffee
