Bowel Cancer Awareness Month – April 2015

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. In this blog, Cancer Information Development intern Holly shares some facts on the UK’s third most commonly diagnosed cancer.

Bowel cancer is used to describe cancer of the colon, rectum or small bowel. Every year in the UK, over 40,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer – that’s roughly one person every 15 minutes.

When it’s found at its earliest stage, more than 90% of people can survive bowel cancer, so it is important to raise awareness. You should visit your GP if you have any of the following symptoms:

• blood in your stools
• a change in bowel habits (diarrhoea or constipation) that lasts for more than three weeks
• pain in the tummy (abdomen) or back passage
• loss of weight or appetite
• a feeling of not having emptied your bowel properly after going to the toilet.

Bowel problems can be very common, and are often not caused by cancer, but it’s always important to get symptoms like these checked out. Often people feel a bit awkward talking about ‘toilet issues’, but this is just an everyday conversation for a doctor, so it is really nothing to be embarrassed about.

Over half of bowel cancers in the UK could be prevented by changes in lifestyle. Although the cause of bowel cancer in most people is still unknown, you can help reduce your risk by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Reducing your risk:

• Improve your diet – Avoid processed meats and cut down on red meat, salt and fat.
• Give up smoking – This can reduce your risk of developing most cancers, including bowel cancer.
• Watch your weight – By leading a healthier lifestyle and keeping physically active, it will help to keep you at a healthy weight.
• Keep fit – People who aren’t physically active are more likely to develop bowel cancer. Try to do around 2 ½ hours of physical activity per week, such as walking, cycling or swimming, or why not be inspired by one of our events?
• Limit your alcohol intake – It’s best to limit alcohol intake and include one or two alcohol-free days each week. According to the national guidelines, men should avoid drinking more than 3–4 units of alcohol a day; women should not have more than 2–3 units a day.

This video shows Eileen’s personal experience of living with bowel cancer:

Screening

Bowel cancer screening programmes are available throughout the UK, and when bowel cancer is detected at its earliest stage, there is a 90% chance of curing it. Screening can include several simple procedures, and more information about screening can be found here.

Treatment

The main treatments currently available for bowel cancer include surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This is dependent on the location of the cancer and a patient’s personal preferences. You can find out more about the various treatments on our website.

If you feel you would like further information on any of the above, please order a free copy of our booklet Are you worried about bowel cancer?

You can also find out more by looking on our Bowel cancer information page, by calling our cancer support specialists on 0808 808 00 00 or via email.

Do you have questions about bowel, rectum or anal cancer?

Ask the experts right here on the Online Community in this week’s live webchat. Cancer Information Nurses John and Anne will be joining us in the chatroom on 15 April from 12–1pm. You can find more information on this webchat on our Community news blog.

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

We're with you every step of the way

The Macmillan team is here to help. Our cancer support specialists can answer your questions, offer support, or simply listen if you need a chat. Call us free on 0808 808 00 00.

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