Daily Mail: Rugby player, 31, blamed extreme fatigue on iron deficiency before being diagnosed with bowel cancer

Andrew Walker, 31, from Yorkshire, was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Until the very end, the man attributed his health problems to severe fatigue caused by iron deficiency.

Walker is a father of two, a rugby player and a health conscious person. When he complained to his doctor about feeling very tired, the doctor suggested that the patient had an iron deficiency.

Walker also complained that his body was having a hard time recovering from injuries and even small cuts. The doctor, however, said that the man had anemia, a condition in which a lack of iron in the body leads to a decrease in the number of red blood cells needed for energy.

Despite the medications prescribed, the patient was not improving, so a stool sample was taken. Traces of blood were found in it. Walker was eventually diagnosed with bowel cancer.

After the treatment, he is awaiting test results to determine whether he needs further treatment.

Doctors have noted that bowel cancer is increasingly affecting younger people. This may be due to the rise in the popularity of ultra-processed foods.

Walker said he began to feel tired earlier this year. He was surprised that the injuries he received in rugby, from which he usually recovered quickly, were taking so long to heal.

One day, he cut his finger, the wound got infected, and he had to spend 11 nights in the hospital and undergo four surgeries.

“I just wrote it off to a stressful lifestyle and fatigue. And also to the fact that I’m already over 30,” the man said.