Stage 4 cancer was a bit of a bombshell...I thought I had flu

DAD STUNNED BY DIAGNOSIS AFTER SUDDENLY FALLING ILL

- PAIGE OLDFIELD

WHEN Jon Hutton sat down to enjoy a film with his son Ollie, it was just like any other evening at home. But 20 minutes later, everything would change.

All of a sudden he felt a chill. Then flu-like symptoms quickly followed completely out of the blue.

Jon, who lives in Sale, was left so cold he needed a jacket and blanket. It led to news that would shatter his world forever.

The 48-year-old visited his GP the next day where he was prescribed paracetamol and told to return if his symptoms continued.

A week later, when there had been no change, Jon went back to the practice and asked for a blood test. Tragically, just a few days after his mum died in April 2024, the dad-of-one received a call from his doctor telling him to go to hospital for an urgent blood transfusion.

"Within a few hours of arriving, a doctor said it could be cancer," Jon told the M.E.N. "That came as a shock. I thought I had a virus."

Sadly, the lab manager's fears were realised when tests and scans revealed he had stage 4 bowel cancer. The disease had left one tumour in his bowel and 10 tumours spread across his liver.