A YOUNG mother has told how she battled cancer while she was pregnant with her first child.

Katie Suley, 27, was diagnosed with signet ring cell cancer and has since undergone surgery at London’s Royal Free Hospital.

During the nine and a half hour operation, doctors removed a tumour and half of Katie’s stomach, as well as her pancreas, small intestine, duodenum and gallbladder

She believes her body was fighting the adenocarcinoma while she was pregnant with her daughter, Arabella, who is now nearly one.

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Katie said: “I actually got sick and then after having my daughter I got worse and was hospitalised when she was just two-weeks-old.

“My daughter is an absolute blessing because I truly think it was being pregnant with her that brought the symptoms to the surface.”

Prior to her diagnosis, Katie had suffered with gastric pain, sickness after eating, and low blood levels, which suggested a potential internal bleed.

Despite this Katie says professionals struggled to identify why she was so ill.

“At first I was diagnosed with severe stomach ulcers that kept perforating but biopsies eventually showed it was gastric cancer,” she said.

“For months I was told by doctors I was a medical anomaly, so they were shocked with the diagnosis as it’s rare for someone of my age to have this type of cancer.

“It took a while for the doctors to start taking me seriously, but thankfully they then moved quickly with the surgery.”

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In a few weeks defiant Katie, who lives in Harwich, will start chemotherapy treatment at a similar time to her mum Sophie, 48, who has since been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Due to the horrific situation the family now finds itself in, a fundraiser has been launched to help alleviate the financial burden.

Katie added: “I am just completely overwhelmed and we literally feel like we have the whole of Harwich backing us.

“We have no choice but to deal with the hand we’ve been dealt, but we’ve got such amazing friends and family behind us.”

To donate the fundraising appeal, visit gofundme.com/f/help-raise-money-for-katie-and-sophie.