LET'S BEAT IT
The Sun Online’s Deborah James reveals WHY it’s so important to break the ‘poo taboo’ on Lorraine
IT'S time to break the great "poo taboo".
That's the stark message from The Sun Online's columnist and bowel cancer patient Deborah James.
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The 36-year-old is making it her mission to raise awareness of the "b*stard disease" that crept up and took her by total surprise just over a year ago.
She was a fit and healthy, vegetarian, exercising four times a week when cancer came knocking at her door.
On the face of it, the mum-of-two was one of the last people you'd expect to be told they were facing bowel cancer.
At the age of 35, she was one of the 2,500 people under the age of 50 diagnosed with bowel cancer every year - her disease was classified as stage four, meaning it had already spread to her lungs.
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Looking back now, she realises she had noticed all the red-flag warning signs of the disease.
But, she dismissed each one, thinking for months - along with her doctors - that she was suffering a bout of irritable bowel syndrome.
"If you look at me, according to the research, I'm not the kind of person who should have bowel cancer," she told the Lorraine show's, Christine Bleakley.
"According to science, I shouldn't have got bowel cancer and then my world fell apart.
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"For six months prior to my diagnosis I thought I had IBS.
"But before I knew it, I was starring my cancer in the face and screaming at my doctor saying I didn't want to die.
"“I actually retrospectively had all the classic signs, I just didn’t know it at the time."
SPOT THE SIGNS What are the red-flag signs you could have bowel cancer? Everything you need to know...
First Deborah noticed a change in her bowel habits, she started to go for up to eight number twos a day.
But she put it down to the stress of her job as a deputy head teacher at a big secondary school.
Then came the cramping and diarrhoea - again she blamed stress.
Next up Deborah started losing weight - the result of her regular exercise, and HIIT classes she reasoned.
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Then came the overwhelming tiredness - again the stress of a busy job and life as a mum of two kids.
Various visits to the doctors and they agreed it was likely to be IBS.
But then Deborah started to notice blood in her poo - the key warning sign of the disease.
THINGS CANCER MADE ME SAY
"They are all classic signs of bowel cancer," she said.
"But for me, it was a total shock because I had justified all these things in my head."
The moral of Deborah's story?
She wants everyone, no matter their age, to learn the signs of bowel cancer and take note when the do a number two.
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She told The Sun Online: "Early diagnosis is the key when it comes to transforming outcomes for bowel cancer patients.
"Put simply, the sooner you are diagnosed the better chance you have of surviving.
"But we can only achieve this if we start to break down the taboos we as a society have when it comes to talking about poo.
"People shouldn't be embarrassed to ask what's normal and what's not.
The Sun Online's Deborah James reveals the signs of bowel cancer you need to know
"And if they have any concerns it's so important they keep raising them with their GP.
"Let's face it, everyone poos. But how many of us check to see if it's all working normally down there?
"And do you even know what to look out for?
"As grim as it might seem, just having a cheeky look in the loo might just save your life."
Statistically, bowel cancer is more likely to affect a person over the age of 50.
MORE ON BOWEL CANCER
But with the help of Deborah, leading charities Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer are keen to point out you're "never too young" for the disease to strike.
While 2,500 young people each year diagnosed is a small percentage, that number is growing with modern lifestyles largely to blame.
Deborah added: "A lot of people don't think bowel cancer will affect them because they are young.
"They probably read this and think why would it happen to me?
"Well why not? It happened to me."
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