BBC newsreader George Alagiah has died at the age of 67, following a bowel cancer diagnosis.
The Sri Lanka-born journalist was diagnosed in 2014 with stage four bowel cancer, which spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
George used his final years to raise awareness and recently appeared in a campaign in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
He also spoke openly about his experience of living with cancer, joining a videocast for the charity Bowel Cancer UK in 2020, where he said sometimes he felt he had the ‘easy part’ living with bowel cancer, while his loved ones had to watch.
George said: ‘Those of us living with cancer know that it affects our families almost as much as ourselves.
‘In some ways I’ve felt through my six-plus years living with cancer that sometimes I have the easy part… my job is just to stay fit and my family has got to watch all of the other things.’
His comments follow on from the campaign of journalist and writer Deborah James who passed away last June, after being diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer.
According to Cancer Research, bowel cancer causes around 16,800 deaths in the UK annually – approximately 46 every day.
As such, what are the symptoms of bowel cancer, and how is it currently treated?
What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?
If you’re wondering about the symptoms of bowel cancer, the National Health Service has compiled a list of possible symptoms.
Possible symptoms of bowel cancer
The NHS website lists the following as possible symptoms of bowel cancer:
- Changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
- Needing to poo more or less often than usual for you
- Blood in your poo (which may look red or black)
- Bleeding from your bottom
- Often feeling like you need to poo (even if you’ve just been to the toilet)
- Bloating
- Tummy pain
- Feeling very tired for no reason
- Losing weight without trying
The NHS website warns that if you have had symptoms of bowel cancer for three weeks or more, you should book an appointment to see your GP. Though some of these symptoms are common and may not be related, it’s essential to get checked.
They also state that it is crucial you aren’t embarrassed to see your doctor and discuss any of these symptoms – whoever it is you see will be used to discussing them.
The NHS site also states you should seek an urgent appointment (or help from NHS 111) if your poo is black or dark red or you have bloody diarrhoea.
If you’re bleeding non-stop from your bottom or there’s a lot of blood )the toilet water turns red, or you see large blood clots) then you should head to A&E or call 999.
What are the causes of bowel cancer?
What causes bowel cancer is not always clear. However, the NHS has identified several key factors that can increase your risk of bowel cancer. These include:
- Being over 50
- smoking
- Being overweight
- Having a close relative that has had bowel cancer
- Having an inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis)
- Having small growths in your bowel (called bowel polyps)
- Having Lynch Syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can reduce your chances of developing bowel cancer. This can be achieved by consuming a well-balanced diet that includes a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, engaging in regular physical activities, shedding excess weight (if applicable), avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol intake, and reducing the consumption of red and processed meat.
However, earlier this year, in a big scientific step forward, researchers believe that a vast ‘mystery’ surrounding the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK has been solved.
Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the University of Glasgow believe they may finally have identified the reason bowel cancer ‘blinds’ the immune system so it can’t see cancer and is, therefore, unable to destroy it.
Dr Seth Coffelt, who led the research, has said: ‘Normally immune cells keep things as they should be, patrolling the bowel like security guards, tackling any harmful bacteria, and keeping the gut healthy.
‘However, when cells in the bowel become cancerous, they fire these “security guards”, and all the methods these immune cells use to talk to each other to coordinate an immune response no longer get produced.
‘Cancer doesn’t want immune cells recognising them as a threat so they manipulate the immune cells so they can’t see the threat and simply pass on by leaving the cancer to do its damage.’
Researchers are now hopeful that more research could offer treatments to reverse this change and that new drugs could be developed to help the body’s T cells’ see’ cancerous cells again.
What is the treatment for bowel cancer?
The treatment for bowel cancer you are recommended will depend on several factors, including the size of the tumour, whether it is in your colon and/or rectum or other parts of the body, if the cancer has specific genetic changes, and your age and general health.
However, people living with bowel cancer may be offered a combination of treatments that can include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted medicines.
A specialist treatment team will help you navigate your care.
Speaking about the latest discovery, Dr Coffelt also added: “Our discovery means that if a way can be found to artificially engage the ‘blinded’ T cells with a drug so that the T cells can “see” the cancer again, we could find a new effective way to treat bowel cancer.”
More information on bowel cancer can be found on the NHS website.
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