I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 47. It was a bit of a shock – I was very healthy and thought I was basically bulletproof. Four surgeries and 8 rounds of chemotherapy later I am happy to be cancer free and getting on with my life.
Bowel cancer often goes undetected for some time. People are reluctant to talk about changes in their toilet habits or the appearance of blood in their poop! GPs may sometimes misdiagnose the cause of your symptoms. It took me three visits to GPs before I was advised to get a colonoscopy.
I want to make sure everyone eligible takes advantage of the new national bowel cancer screening programme. And I want to help raise awareness of the disease so that people act immediately if they have any potential symptoms. If you catch things early then you have a very high chance of making a full recovery.
To challenge myself, I am walking in the Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon on the 12th of May 2018. If you would like to help me raise awareness to Bowel Cancer, you can support me here.