Dad, 38, Thought His Back Pain Was a Sign of Getting Older. He Died 2 Months Later

A father who believed his back pain was just a normal part of getting older died two months later after being diagnosed with aggressive rectal cancer.

Steve Burrows, 38, from St. Neots, England, first started feeling back pain in late July. Thinking it was simply stiffness or strain, he tried stretching to relieve it. “He started getting some twinges in his lower back and he was trying to do yoga-style stretches to alleviate the pain,” his former partner, Bethan Kester, told the Daily Mail.

“He’d always joke about getting older,” Kester said. “He’d tell my kids, ‘It’s just old age,’ and I’d laugh and remind him, ‘You’re only 38.’ ” Burrows was father to Briannah, 14, and Lilly, 7, and stepfather to Jaiden, 15, and Aleah, 15.

“There would be times when it was just a dull ache, and others when the pain became unbearable,” Kester recalled. “He’d be on his knees on the floor, stretching and hugging the sofa, convinced it was sciatica.”

But the pain quickly worsened. “It escalated until it was constant,” she said. About a month after the pain began, Burrows went to the doctor — and received devastating news. “The back pain turned out to be tumors pressing on his nerves. He was devastated. He phoned me crying — he was terrified,” Kester said.

“Once the initial diagnosis had sunk in, he was determined to fight it,” she added. “But then we learned it had already spread. He had stage 4 rectal cancer. Once they said it was on his liver, he knew it was serious and that it would take him, but none of us realized how quickly.”

Burrows died just a month after receiving his diagnosis. “It completely ravaged his body before anyone could process what was happening,” Kester said. “It took us all by surprise.”

In a GoFundMe campaign created to help cover funeral expenses, Kester wrote, “Within a month of being diagnosed to passing away, we just didn’t have the time to sort anything out. We weren’t expecting it to be this quick.”

She urged others to take persistent symptoms seriously. “If there’s something happening with your body that isn’t normal, please get it checked,” she said. “Steve went to the hospital with back pain, and his blood tests came back clear because they were looking for inflammation. Two weeks later, he was told he had rectal cancer that had spread to his liver. If you’re not satisfied with the answers you get and still feel something’s wrong, ask for a second opinion. Don’t put it off or assume you know what it is.”

“Steve’s passing has left us completely devastated,” Kester added. “He was a dad, a son, a brother, a godfather, a best friend. Losing him has left a huge hole in our lives. If sharing his story makes even one person see a doctor or ask for a second opinion, then he’s made a difference.”

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