An Australian mother living with terminal cancer has issued a stark warning about symptoms she initially dismissed before receiving her devastating diagnosis.
Krystal Maeyke, 39, was told in May 2023 that she had stage four metastatic bowel cancer with no available cure.
The mother is now speaking out about the warning signs she overlooked, hoping to prevent others from making the same mistake.
Her experience highlights how easily serious symptoms can be attributed to everyday causes, potentially delaying crucial medical intervention.
The mother dismissed her persistent night sweats
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The most significant symptom Krystal overlooked was severe abdominal pain that persisted for three months.
She initially attributed the sharp stabbing sensations to food allergies, particularly as she maintained a healthy lifestyle with daily exercise and a balanced diet.
"At first, I thought I would get checked for food intolerances. As I was fit and healthy, exercising daily and eating a wholesome, balanced diet," Krystal explained on her TikTok channel.
Despite testing negative for gluten intolerance, the discomfort in her lower abdomen intensified dramatically.
"Some days I would be in agony and have to keep a heat pack on it," she said. The pain eventually became so severe that it brought her to her knees.
Another warning sign Krystal dismissed was persistent night sweats that occurred months before her diagnosis.
"I was experiencing persistent night sweats a few months before I was diagnosed," Krystal said. "I would wake up during the night drenched in sweat, enough so I had to change clothes and sheets."
Despite sleeping with air conditioning and a fan, she attributed the sweating to summer temperatures.
"It was summertime, and I slept with the air [conditioner] on and a fan, so I just thought it was my air [conditioner] not keeping up with the summer heat. So I ignored this sign."
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Krystal overlooked severe abdominal pain that persisted for months
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Krystal was eventually airlifted to Alice Springs Hospital, located 280 miles from her desert hometown of Yulara in Australia's Northern Territory. It was there she received the life-changing news that would devastate her world.
"I underwent a series of tests. That's when I knew it was something serious. I was woken up later that night by a doctor whose words I will never forget," she said in a TikTok video.
"'Krystal, I've got bad news. You have cancer,'" the doctor told her. "The weight of those words, accompanied by my question of 'How do you know?' and the doctor's response, 'It's everywhere,' shook me to my core."
The diagnosis has profound implications for her 12-year-old son, Maison, with Krystal establishing a GoFundMe page due to the "potential loss for my 12-year-old son".
She described him as "a vulnerable child who may miss out on the love and presence of his mother", adding that "Maison witnessing the toll that this disease is and will take on me is already challenging".
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