Bowel cancer accounts for 11 percent of all cancer diagnoses in the UK annually, according to Cancer Research, which names it the “fourth most common cancer” in the country. If symptoms are caught early enough, the disease can be treated.
Cancer Research explained: “Bowel cancer survival is improving and has more than doubled in the last 40 years in the UK.”
In a bid to help people understand and identify the signs of bowel cancer, an NHS and agency nurse posted a video to her viral TikTok page.
Nurse A, who posts under the username @tiktoknursea explained one simple “phrase” can help people spot early symptoms of the disease.
The nurse currently has 85.7 thousand followers on TikTok and has amassed 13million likes.
She said she was inspired to “spread the message” and “share the word” by Dame Deborah James, who died from the disease on June 28, 2022, aged 40.
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Nurse A said: “If you have been living under a rock that is the only way you will have missed this incredible woman.
“In 2016, Deborah James was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.
“She went on to host ‘You, Me and the Big C’ the Podcast and created the charity The Bowel Babe Fund.
“In May of this year, Deborah put out a statement on social media to tell her followers her care had been moved to hospice at home and her body was no longer fighting.
“With this came an outpouring of love and Deborah raised over six million pounds with the Bowel Babe Fund.
“Dame Deborah’s pledge is to get everybody talking about poo and there’s one phrase she wants you to remember to look out for the signs of bowel cancer.”
In fact, all you need to remember is the word “bowel”. Nurse A explained: “Firstly, there is B.
“B is for bleeding from your bottom or blood that’s in your poo.
“O is for obvious changes in your toilet habits. W is for weight loss and you don’t know why.
“E is for extreme tiredness. L is for lumps or pains that are normally in your tummy or your bottom.”
According to the NHS nurse, “nearly 43,000 people” are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year.
She added: “If we can catch it early it can be treatable and even curable.
“So, let’s remember what Dame Deborah said. Remember Bowel, spread the message, share the word and let’s make talking about poo normal.”
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What are the most common symptoms of bowel cancer?
The NHS explained: “The symptoms of bowel cancer can be subtle and do not necessarily make you feel ill. However, it’s worth trying simple treatments for a short time to see if they get better.”
More than 90 percent of people with bowel cancer have one of the following combinations of symptoms:
A persistent change in bowel habit – moving your bowels more often, with looser, runnier bowel movements and sometimes tummy (abdominal) pain.
Blood in the poo without other symptoms of piles (haemorrhoids).
Abdominal pain, discomfort or bloating always brought on by eating – sometimes resulting in a reduction in the amount of food eaten and weight loss.
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