Hazel Stewart would never have been a rugby player if she hadn’t had bowel cancer.
“I don’t think I would have had the mindset to just try all these new things,” the 41-year-old mum from Thurso says.
So when her rugby team, the Caithness Krakens, won a national final in Edinburgh in April — just five years after her diagnosis — Hazel was doubly delighted.
There was her delight at beating Uddingston Selkies 47-27 despite going two tries down in the first few minutes.
And there was an overwhelming joy that her cancer journey, which had taken her to some dark places, had led to this day.
It was a journey that, in a cruel twist, included saying goodbye to her dad who was diagnosed with the same condition while Hazel was undergoing treatment.
“When we were on the pitch I was telling myself, just soak this up, because it was unbelievable,” she says. “The atmosphere that was there, it was amazing. I just felt so lucky.”
Lethargy, stomach pains and a birthday rush to hospital
The Murrayfield success was a long way from Hazel’s diagnosis in March 2019.
Hazel, who teaches early learning and childcare at UHI North, West and Hebrides, was only 37 when she was told she had bowel cancer.
Initially, her GP thought her lethargy and stomach pains were cause by an intolerance, so she tried tracking her food and cutting out gluten.
But a day after son Camden’s sixth birthday, she was rushed to hospital with a fever and stomach pains. She had sepsis and a CT scan found a perforation in her bowel.
It was a difficult time. But today, Hazel says she owes her life to getting sepsis. A colonoscopy revealed a tumour, and a week later she had an operation to remove it.
“The sepsis actually highlighted the cancer,” she says. “And it was caught so early, that’s what I’m thankful for.”
The bowel cancer was still only Stage One, meaning it was treatable and curable.
Even though bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Scotland, with about 4,000 diagnosed every year, more than 9 in 10 people survive when it’s caught at the earliest stage.
Hazel’s operation removed 80% of her colon and she didn’t require a stoma bag, the artificial pouch used by some bowel cancer patients that collects bodily waste.
She underwent 12 sessions of chemotherapy and in 2020 was given the all clear.
Early screening for bowel cancer
Today, Hazel is an advocate of early screening for bowel cancer and spokesperson for a new Bowel Cancer UK campaign called ‘Tell Your GP Instead’, aimed at getting people to speak to their doctor as soon as possible if they spot symptoms.
These can include blood in your poo, bleeding from your bottom, a change in your pooing habits, or a lump or pain in your tummy.
“I was somebody who wouldn’t want to talk about my bowel habits in front of anybody, but now that’s all I talk about,” she says, laughing.
“It was nine months of not very nice things, but it’s better than not getting it fixed and then not being able to be well enough to enjoy life.”
Thurso mum’s darkest moment as bowel cancer takes its toll
Hazel knows better than most the toll that bowel cancer can take if not diagnosed early enough.
Her darkest moment was when she was still undergoing treatment and her dad, Peter Stewart, was also diagnosed with the condition.
The cancer had already spread throughout his abdomen by the time it was picked up so he was unable to receive treatment. Peter died in September 2019.
“I honestly don’t know how I coped with it,” Hazel says. “Even now, I feel like it didn’t happen.”
Hazel wasn’t allowed to see her dad while she was undergoing chemotherapy.
She even changed one of her chemotherapy sessions from Wick to Inverness’s Raigmore Hospital where her dad was being treated.
However she was blocked from visiting because Peter had contracted an infection.
“It was really tough,” Hazel recalls.
A new start with rugby and life after cancer
But Hazel’s life soon took an unexpected turn.
Buffeted by the pandemic lockdown and in need of human interaction after months of shielding, Hazel joined a newly-formed women’s rugby team in Thurso called the Caithness Krakens.
In the wake of her cancer, her attitude was a lot more can-do.
She had been inspired by people she met while going through treatment, especially one woman at the North Highland Cancer Centre who had had cancer 18 years previously.
“Before that, I had never thought that people could survive that long having cancer,” Hazel says. “It made me realise that it didn’t have to be a death sentence.”
‘They told me to just go and enjoy myself’
Despite never having played before, Hazel took to rugby almost immediately, slotting into the team as a loosehead prop, a forward position that sits on the edge of the scrum.
She loved the camaraderie, and games and training sessions were a welcome antidote to the seclusion of lockdown.
“It’s a sport for everybody,” she says. “Even if like me you are front row and the slowest runner you can still make an impact on the pitch.
“Everybody’s got a role to play and everybody’s made to feel like they’re as worthwhile as somebody who’s scoring forty tries a season. It’s a really special sport.”
Hazel’s only concern was that playing a high-impact sport like rugby could spell bad news for her surgery scar. Her doctors, however, quickly settled those fears.
“Because my scar was the whole way down my front I was really scared that being taken to the ground could affect it,” she says.
“But I spoke to my surgical team and they said I should be fine. They told me to just go and enjoy myself.”
Memories of a 97-0 thrashing and a stunning turnaround
Fast forward to April this year and, just three years after forming, the Caithness Krakens had fought their way to the final of the Woman’s National Plate, a Scottish Rugby trophy contested by teams from the second and third tier of the Regional League.
It was a huge occasion, and the players and supporters headed en masse to Murrayfield Hive, the 7,600-seater stadium next to the main stadium.
However, any optimism they had of an easy win was quickly punctured as the team shipped two early tries.
Suddenly, memories of the previous season, when Hazel admits the team were not as good, came flooding back — specifically a 97-0 thrashing by Shetland.
But though many of the players were the same, the team had changed dramatically thanks to hard training and inspirational coaching.
Soon the scoreboard was moving in the right direction, and Caithness triumphed by 20 points.
“Once we started scoring, we couldn’t stop,” Hazel says.
Son’s delight and thoughts of Hazel’s dad
The scenes at the final whistle were epic, and the players partied long into the Edinburgh night.
Hazel’s son Camden, now 11 and watching from the stands, couldn’t contain his glee.
“I’d got him a little T-shirt printed with ‘Mum No. 1’ on the back,” she says. “It was lovely to have him there and he was so proud. He said he’d never seen me play so well.”
She also knows her dad would have loved watching his daughter carry home the trophy.
“He would have been delighted,” she says.
“Though I don’t know if he’d have enjoyed watching me take all the hits. He would have thought I was crazy.”
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