BBC News star reveals health update after bowel cancer battle as they send warning to fans
BBC News veteran Jeremy Bowen has given an update on his five-year battle with bowel cancer.
The Corporation’s International Editor, 64, took to X to share a selfie outside The Royal Marsden Hospital, London, whose care he has been under since 2019.
Revealing some positive news, he wrote: “Discharged 5 years & 4 months after diagnosis of stage 3 bowel cancer – it was in my lymph nodes plus the highly undesirable B-RAF mutation. Get tested if you have something weird happening in your bowels, or even if you haven’t. I had none of the usual symptoms.”
A follower replied: “This is wonderful news! Would you feel comfortable sharing what your not so usual symptoms were?”
Jeremy then revealed what made him seek help.
He replied: “Agonising stomach cramps diagnosed as bowel adhesions on scar tissue from a hernia operation. Maybe they weren’t cancer signs – but made me think i should get a test. Even though ‘too young’ for a routine NHS test at 58 Dr Cotton my GP agreed I should have one.”
And he reassured another follower who is set to begin treatment at the hospital that it was a pleasant place to be.
He said: “I liked being at that hospital even when I felt ill.”
Jeremy had surgery in 2019 to remove a tumour which was followed by chemotherapy.
Speaking about his diagnosis on BBC Breakfast at the time he urged people not to “die of embarrassment” over getting tested.
It led to a huge spike in visits to the symptoms page on the NHS website.
He said: “I had funny pains in my legs and my back when I was in Iraq last May.
“I went to hospital for a couple of days but they didn’t say it was cancer, they said it was scar tissue from a previous operation.
“I had no symptoms but thought I should get a test, it came back positive. I had a colonoscopy, when they put a camera on a stick up your bottom – it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds, and they give you lots of drugs – from that they found a tumour.
“I had an operation to take it away and now I’m going through chemotherapy.
“It’s not the thing you choose but I’m confident that I’m getting very good medical treatment and I’ll be OK.”
Jeremy also said if the cancer had been caught later, it would have been a lot more serious.
He added: “The key thing is to get tested, I’ve told all my friends to get to their doctors for a test.
“Bowels and poo are not the normal things people want to talk about, but actually it’s part of all our lives.
What are the red flag warning signs of bowel cancer?
IT'S the fourth most common cancer in the UK, the second deadliest - yet bowel cancer can be cured, if you catch it early enough.
While screening is one way of ensuring early diagnosis, there are things everyone can do to reduce their risk of the deadly disease.
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes and checking with your GP can prove a life-saver.
If you notice any of the signs, don’t be embarrassed and don’t ignore them. Doctors are used to seeing lots of patients with bowel problems.
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
- A change in your normal toilet habits – going more frequently for example
- Pain or a lump in your tummy
- Extreme tiredness
- Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs include:
- Gripping pains in the abdomen
- Feeling bloated
- Constipation and being unable to pass wind
- Being sick
- Feeling like you need to strain – like doing a number two – but after you’ve been to the loo
While these are all signs to watch out for, experts warn the most serious is noticing blood in your stools.
But, they warn it can prove tricky for doctors to diagnose the disease, because in most cases these symptoms will be a sign of a less serious disease.
“If you feel a bit embarrassed and you leave it too long – a gastroenterologist tweeted me this morning to say, ‘tell them don’t die of embarrassment, for god’s sake’.”
Bowel cancer is the second deadliest form of the disease in the UK, claiming 16,000 lives every year. But it can be cured, if it’s caught early enough.
Catch it at stage 1 – the earliest stage – and you have a 97 per cent chance of surviving five years or longer.
But catch it at stage 4, when it has already spread, and that chance plummets to just seven per cent.
Jeremy has been the BBC’s Middle East Editor since 2005 after beginning his career with the broadcaster in 1984.
He has travelled to more than 70 countries as a war correspondent and was robbed at gunpoint while reporting from Kosovo during the 1999 Bosnian War.