Love Is Blind star 'thought he had cancer' before potentially fatal diagnosis
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Kwame Appiah has issued a stark warning about brushing off sickness, after facing a potentially life-threatening diagnosis. The 34-year-old, who shot to fame in Netflix's Love Is Blind US, felt just a 'little bit off' in November before his health dramatically deteriorated.
By December, he was not only experiencing fevers for three weeks straight, but had lost a worrying 20 pounds and decided it was time to visit a doctor. Sharing his experience on Instagram, he explained: "In November, I got just a little bit sick, I felt just a little bit off, but I didn't take it too seriously.
"And then next thing you know, we're about a month in. So, here's why that month of waiting really hurt me. Because by the time I actually got to the doctors in December, I was having fevers for about three weeks. I had lost 20 pounds. "So, based on those symptoms, the doctor determined it could be an array of things and one of those things was cancer." Kwame was eventually diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a long-term condition which causes inflammation of the rectum and large intestine (colon).
Recurring diarrhoea, stomach pain and needing to use the toilet frequently are among its common symptoms, in addition to a loss of appetite and weight loss, according to the NHS. Around one in three people who suffer from ulcerative colitis will also develop complications in other parts of the body which can have life-threatening complications.
This includes toxic megacolon a 'a rare and serious' condition in which inflammation in the colon 'causes gas to become trapped, resulting in the colon becoming enlarged and swollen'. Advice from the NHS adds: "This is potentially very dangerous as it can cause the colon to rupture (split) and cause infection in the blood (septicaemia).".
