16 February 2024 , 22:49
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BBC News' Jeremy Bowen urged his followers not to ignore any symptoms after being discharged following a cancer diagnosis over five years ago.
The BBC News International Editor called on his followers to look out for signs and seek medical attention even if you don't suffer from any of the "usual symptoms". In 2019, the veteran foreign correspondent revealed he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer after pains in his legs and back led to a tumour being discovered.
He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "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."
Jeremy opened up about his condition further in response to a concerned follower who asked: "This is wonderful news! Would you feel comfortable sharing what your not so usual symptoms were?" 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."
Jeremy announced his diagnosis back in 2019 (BBC)Last year, Jeremy revealed his diagnosis gave him a new perspective on life. Speaking on Desert Island Discs, he said: "There have been some very difficult moments. I ended up a few years ago with very severe depression. I took time off work. I took meds.
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"I had cancer a few years ago and, touch wood, I have been in remission now for four-and-a-half years and it was quite a serious tumour. So I think that has also helped me get a sense of perspective on life because I have always been a glass half-full rather than a half-empty person, and that maybe changed for a while. I think actually having had cancer brought back the more optimistic Jeremy."
Speaking back in 2019, when he announced his diagnosis during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Jeremy explained his diagnosis “could have been a bit earlier, but had it been much later it would have been much worse”, and he urged anyone who was experiencing pain not to be embarrassed to go to their doctors.
He said, on BBC Breakfast: “I had some funny pains in my legs and my back when I was in Iraq last May, and when I came back I had to go to hospital for a couple of days but they didn’t mention cancer, they said it was to do with scar tissue that I had from a previous surgery.
“But I thought I should get a test, so I went to my GP, and I’d had none of the classic bowel cancer symptoms, nothing at all, but I thought I should get a test. So I got a test and it was positive. I had a colonoscopy where they put a camera on a stick up your bottom, [which] is not nearly as bad as it sounds, and they give you lots of drugs and from that they found out that I had a tumour, and I had surgery, got [it] taken away and now I’m having chemotherapy.”