Bowel Cancer Symptoms - Clive's Story - Cancer Research UK

For more information on the symptoms of Bowel, Colon, Rectal or any other Cancer visit: http://cruk.org/spotcancerearly

Clive tells us how he went to his doctor when he first had symptoms of bowel cancer. Learn about possible symptoms of bowel cancer and why it is important to see your doctor as soon as you have symptoms.

I'm Clive Barlow I'm from Lythm in saint annes, I'm a retired HR manager. I was diagnosed in 2003 with bowel cancer. For some reason I happened to notice blood in my stool one day when I went to the toilet. I kept that to myself but then it continued and it had gone on for a couple more weeks then I did spoke to my wife and through the conversations it's one of those things I guess men are a bit like that in terms of 'oh it'll go away, it'll sort itself out' but with a bit of persistence and nagging she said I think you'd better go and get it checked out. At that time you don't want to think that it's Cancer because that happens to everybody else and not yourself. When you have that conversation and the consultant tells you that caught it in the early stages and it hasn't spread anywhere else on reflection you have to look back and say that that discussion that happened with my wife really saved my life. Certainly going through the experience I've gone through, I can highly recommend to go and see the doctor. The early diagnosis of my cancer has led me on to have another wonderful 9 years and hopefully more years to come in the future.

If you notice any of these symptoms and they last longer than 4 to 6 weeks, tell your doctor:

- Bleeding from the bottom without any obvious reason or blood in your poo.
- A persistent change in bowel habit to looser or more frequent bowel motions.
- Tummy pain, especially if severe.
- A lump in your tummy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOzURk7wp4