Her pain was dismissed as women’s issues, then her disease took most of her stomach

A young woman who repeatedly sought medical help for worsening symptoms says her concerns were brushed off as “women’s problems” before doctors discovered she had a rare form of stomach cancer. The issue came to light after LADbible detailed how the delay in diagnosis ultimately led to her losing most of her stomach.

Bella Bayliss, now 25, first went to A&E in January 2019 after becoming extremely anaemic. She was struggling with breathlessness during everyday activities, appeared unusually pale, and experienced severe stomach bloating alongside constant pain.

Despite the range and severity of her symptoms, Bella says she was sent home and told the issues were related to women’s health. She left without further investigation, and her condition continued to worsen.

She knew something more serious was being missed

Bella, who is from Gloucester, said her symptoms persisted for years. Along with constant stomach pain, she lost her appetite entirely and experienced numbness and tingling in her hands and legs. Even though she could barely eat, she continued gaining weight due to severe bloating and a constant feeling of fullness after meals.

“I knew it wasn’t that,” Bella said of being told her symptoms were women’s issues. In November 2019, after becoming anaemic again, she returned to hospital, where doctors performed an endoscopy that revealed a six-centimeter tumour in her stomach.

She was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumour, or GIST, a rare cancer caused by a sarcoma in the digestive system. By that point, the tumour had grown large enough that surgeons had to remove 70 percent of her stomach. Similar personal health stories have circulated online, including a woman who had specific issues with men that unexpectedly drew wide attention.

Bella believes the extent of the surgery could have been reduced if her condition had been taken seriously earlier. “If they hadn’t left me for so long, I wouldn’t have had that much of my stomach removed,” she said, explaining that the tumour continued to grow during the delay.

Years later, after believing she had moved past cancer, Bella received more difficult news. A routine scan in September showed two small tumours on her liver, confirming that the cancer had returned. She said she recognized what the “shadows” meant before doctors formally confirmed it, a moment she described as instantly taking her back to the fear she thought she’d left behind, similar to how other unexpected medical or real-life discoveries can completely change someone’s outlook in an instant, like these hikers randomly finding a dead body.

Now awaiting further surgery, Bella says she feels exhausted but prepared for what lies ahead. She continues to deal with the long-term effects of her first operation, including difficulty eating dairy and large meals, as well as scarring that has affected her confidence.