In early 2025, Lachie Ower was newly married to the love of his life, enjoying a thriving career and looking forward to starting a family in the not-too-distant future.
Privately though, the Geelong-based finance executive, 28, was dealing with a worrying secret. He carried it with him for nine months throughout 2025, until it became impossible to ignore.
He'd offered clues along the way about what was happening to his wife Laura - but insisted that he had it all under control and soldiered on, refusing to let her arrange a doctor for him.
But as Laura noticed her husband becoming increasingly tired and unwell, she insisted that he needed to see a GP urgently.
Lachie now admits that if Laura hadn't taken the initiative and pressured him to go, his stage four cancer diagnosis might have gone undetected for months, until it was far far too late.
Lachie had been married for six months and felt otherwise fit and healthy when he first made the unsettling observation in the bathroom.
'I started seeing blood in my stool,' he told the Daily Mail.
Then aged just 27, Lachie wasn't overly concerned. He considered that it might be irritable bowel syndrome or a dietary issue and even experimented with cutting out certain food groups.
Lachie Ower, 28, told Daily Mail his life has been turned upside down after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in December 2025
LLachie was newly married to his wife Laura, 28, and they were looking optimistically towards starting a family when they received his devastating diagnosis late last year
The blood came and went, so he decided to ignore them.
That was until other symptoms emerged. Lachie needed to go to the bathroom more frequently, sometimes as often as six or seven times a day. He also started losing weight rapidly and became increasingly lethargic.
'I was pretty embarrassed by these symptoms and tried to shrug them off. I'd tell myself, "I'm fine. I've just eaten something off",' he recalled.
'I tried to sweep it under the carpet and didn't want to think about it.'
But as his need to use the bathroom hit its peak, it started to negatively impact all aspects of his life. At work, Lachie felt self-conscious and even resorted to telling colleagues he was popping out for coffee, when he was really going downstairs to use the foyer bathroom.
At home, he also tried not to alert Laura, even though she could tell something was off.
'I was trying to hide it and deal with it by myself,' he said.
'We were newlyweds, I didn't want to, well, have all that mystery disappear in the first months of marriage!
Lachie says he started experiencing 'embarrassing' bowel movement symptoms, which he tried to ignore and manage on his own
'It was pride, embarrassment, and stubbornness.'
Eventually, it got so bad that Lachie finally caved and told Laura the truth about what he was experiencing. After months of urging him to see a doctor, Lachie finally relented to Laura's insistent request.
'She pushed me to get it checked out even though I just didn't want to deal with it. I was too headstrong and stubborn, and thought I could fix it myself,' Lachie said.
'I probably never would have booked that GP appointment. Who knows how long it would have taken if I had to do it myself. Laura was the one who pushed me. Thank God she did.'
Due to his age and clean health history, the doctor's first inclination was to investigate for digestive issues or possibly Crohn's disease, and so a colonoscopy was soon arranged.
Lachie had the procedure on December 23, noting he was 'the very last patient in the clinic for the whole year'. At the time, Lachie and Laura were preparing to host their first family Christmas, only to be blindsided by news they never expected to receive.
'It was a crazy time because I was going in for a routine colonoscopy. There wasn't any talk about cancer - they thought it might be Crohn's disease or maybe even IBD,' he said.
'Laura hadn't come to the hospital with me because she was in a moon boot after achilles surgery and on crutches.'
But after the colonoscopy, Lachie was recovering in bed alone when the gastroenterologist came in and revealed the grim discovery.
'Laura was on speaker phone and I was by myself in the room when they told me,' he recalled.
'People talk about an out-of-body experience. That was... I actually pinched my left hand to check if I was dreaming, because I'd only just woken up from anaesthetic.'
The doctor said he had known immediately when they inserted the camera because the tumour in the bowel was large, about seven centimetres in size.
Lachie and Laura shared the heartbreaking diagnosis with both their parents that night, and with the rest of their extended family on Christmas morning - which he notes 'wasn't the ideal Christmas present'.
On December 23, a colonoscopy revealed a grim discovery, and follow-up scans soon afterwards confirmed it was stage four bowel cancer
A series of scans quickly followed into the new year. In addition to the tumour in the bowel, these revealed that the cancer had spread elsewhere, with two on the right of the liver, five smaller ones on the left, and in the lymph nodes.
It was quickly diagnosed as stage four bowel cancer and three weeks later, on January 13, Lachie began chemotherapy.
Before commencing treatment, his doctors recommended he undergo sperm freezing, given his age and stage of life.
'The oncologist explained - suddenly, I had an oncologist - that radiation and the location of the tumour could affect my ability to have children. So we did two appointments of sperm freezing as quickly as possible,' he said.
'They were tough appointments, something I never thought I'd be doing. You start to think things like, "Will this be used when I'm around, or not?"
'That was probably the hardest appointment, because it meant so much.'
Once that was done,Lachie - with Laura by his side - started chemotherapy.
'They put a port on my chest, which a lot of cancer patients go through. It lets them put the chemo through there, rather than in my arms.'
The treatment plan was to hit it 'pretty hard and pretty quick' with chemotherapy - six sessions every fortnight for three months. Given his age,Lachie's team wanted to give him 'the harshest and strongest dose' that they could.
Lachie is now less than a month away from finishing his opening rounds of chemotherapy. In early April they'll do a full scan to determine the next plan.
'Nothing is clear at this stage,' Lachie said,adding that treatment has been 'rough so far' and sees him swing between 'good and bad weeks'.
'[It's] a roller coaster; you build yourself up and get knocked back down again for a few days, then do it all again.'
Throughout it all,Laura has been a steadfast support.
'She's been unbelievable. She's everything to me - by my side at every appointment and every chemo session. I truly would be lost without her,' he said.
The couple are fortunate to have strong support from family and friends who have been helping them throughout this health battle
The couple are also lucky enough to have strong support from family and friends who have also been helping them through his health battle.
Lachie's brother established a GoFundMe campaign. To further support this fundraising effort, his friends have additionally arranged a Run 4 Lach fun run, which will take place on April 19 in Geelong.
'It has been overwhelming being so generously supported,' Lachie said.
'I know it's been a terrible time, but the support I've received is so special. I've had so many beautiful messages. I'm lucky because there are probably a lot of people out there who don't get this kind of love and support.'
The donations have taken 'a weight off' too. The couple no longer need to worry as much about the price of upcoming surgeries, treatments and other expenses.
Doctors expect to perform two major surgeries in the near future, including an intense liver operation which will land him in hospital for a week.
'We haven't figured out how to handle the tumour in the bowel yet because we're waiting to see what the chemo does first,' Lachie explained.
At this point,Lachie said his doctors 'don't give much away' regarding his treatment progression.
'They won't say if it's good or bad - they keep their cards very close to their chest because they don't know until they see the scans,' he said.
'So for the time being, it's just crossing your fingers that the chemo is working. Before the scan, that's when anxiety kicks in.'
Lachie and Laura have gone from a couple with everyday lives and routines to a life of limbo. But even though their world has been spun upside down, they try to claw back a semblance of their old life when they can.
'It's a tough adjustment, something we never expected. My perspective on life has changed very quickly.
'I said to Laura early on, "I can't remember what I used to stress about." Everything's changed. But we still try to live as normal as possible. We still come home after appointments or hospital visits and watch a show together. But what's changed is your attitude moving forward.'
It also explains why Lachie - naturally a private person - was willing to speak openly about his health battle.
'I really hope someone reading this will take on board what I've said,recognise early symptoms,and get checked out,' he said.
Since his diagnosis,Lachie has inspired friends and colleaguesto go and get checked - something that he is delighted to hear.
'I take health a lot more seriously nowand I want other young people in particularto understand you can't just shake things off. Being told you're young and fit doesn't mean you are - cancer doesn't discriminate,' he said.
'You can't have the mentality I had,which was that I couldn't possibly have a serious health issue because I was too young. I always pushed it off to the side.'
'And it's not just young men that do this,but men of all ages,who don't want to talk about things that are going on with them,especially when it involves going to the toilet.
'That mentality led me here.I hope someone reading this thinks, "Maybe something's off,and I should go chat to a doctor about it".'.