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Privacy Notice‘I was 58 when I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I remember listening to [Dame Deborah] talk so publicly about how important it is to check your poo. But then I just slotted the information to the back of my mind. ‘Then in October 2021, I noticed blood in my poo. If I hadn’t had that knowledge stored away, I might have ignored it for longer. But I’d remembered Deborah saying that if she’d been diagnosed six months earlier, her story would have been so different. ‘So I monitored it for three weeks and it still wasn’t right. At first the doctors thought there wasn’t anything wrong, but then they did a biopsy on a polyp they’d found and the cells behind it were cancerous. ‘They thought it was stage one initially, but I then had fairly major surgery, where I had the whole of my rectum removed. And when they did that I was told my cancer was stage two.
Mum of three Kate, who also has three grandchildren, says she will be eternally thankful for everything Dame Deborah did to highlight bowel cancer
‘I was 58 when I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I remember listening to [Dame Deborah] talk so publicly about how important it is to check your poo. But then I just slotted the information to the back of my mind’
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‘Following that, I had an ileostomy [an operation to form a stoma that directs waste products from your small intestine] and I had a stoma bag for three months, which allowed my bowel to heal. It’s one year on now and I’m fine. ‘I didn’t have chemo as they’d caught it early and now I’m no more likely to relapse or get it again than anybody else. When I had my surgery last March, Dame Deborah was very ill and I was reading her updates while recuperating. ‘I was counting my blessings and felt so grateful to her for everything she’d done to raise awareness. The Bowelbabe fund has raised £11.3 million, which is just phenomenal.
‘I wanted to raise some money for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April, and turned to crocheting. I’d made little crocheted ‘happy poos’ for my consultant and stoma nurses; they loved them’
‘I wanted to raise some money for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April, and turned to crocheting. I’d made little crocheted ‘happy poos’ for my consultant and stoma nurses and they loved them. ‘So I made another 50 and sold them to family and friends and raised £780. Deborah remained positive despite the fact she knew how her journey was going to end. She was so gracious.’ For more information about bowel cancer, go to bowelcanceruk.org.uk READ MORE Five warning signs of bowel cancer as Dame Deborah James dies age 40 Deborah James dies aged 40 after bowel cancer battle and heroic £6.7m fundraisingStory SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterMore OnHealthReal Life
