Bowel Cancer Awareness month 2023

News - 26 April 2023

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, a fantastic annual opportunity to raise awareness of bowel cancer.

Someone dies of bowel cancer every 30 minutes in the UK. Awareness and seeking help early can help to change this.

Bowel Cancer UK's latest survey showed that nearly four in ten people in the UK can't name a single symptom of bowel cancer. 

They have launched the #KnowTheHigh5 campaign to raise awareness of the red flag symptoms of the disease.

Symptoms of bowel cancer can include:

  • Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
  • A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
  • Unexplained weight loss
  • Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
  • A pain or lump in your tummy

It's important to know that most people with these symptoms don't have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms. But if you have any of these, or if things just don't feel right, go to see your GP.

You may need to visit your doctor more than once if your symptoms don't get better.

Knowing the symptoms and acting on them as quickly as possible could mean that if you do have bowel cancer, it may be diagnosed earlier when it's much easier to treat.

Bowel cancer screening

Screening is a way of testing healthy people to see if they show any early signs of cancer.

Bowel cancer screening can save lives. Screening aims to detect bowel cancer at an early stage, when treatment has the best chance of working. The test can also find polyps (non-cancerous growths), which might develop into cancer. Polyps can usually be removed, to lower the risk of bowel cancer.

Read more on bowel cancer screening from the NHS 

Support

Ask the nurse

Bowel Cancer UK nurses are available to help. They can provide you with information, and signpost you to further support. If you have any questions or concerns about bowel cancer, email nurse@bowelcanceruk.org.uk

Read more from Bowel Cancer UK

Widnes and Runcorn Cancer Support

If you or a loved one has been affected by cancer Widnes and Runcorn Cancer support can offer help, information, peer support, therapies and more for you and your family. 

Call the helpline on 0151 423 5730. Open: Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm. 

Read more on Widnes and Runcorn Cancer Support

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