Ian Rowlands, Hertfordshire

I was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer in December 2024, aged 47.

I started hearing grumbling noises in my stomach in October 2024. I did visit my GP and completed the ‘poo test’, which came back negative. My stomach still didn’t feel quite right but I was continuing with work and all my usual activities, including running.

The following month it snowballed. The stomach pain started to get worse, so I visited the GP again. She suggested it was irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and prescribed me some tablets. She did also refer me for a blood test and ultrasound, but not as an emergency. Things continued to get worse and my wife took me to the local A&E; I collapsed in the waiting room (a good way to actually get seen!!?). The doctors did some tests, including an ultrasound, but didn’t identify anything and I got sent home and just told to “drink more water.”

I still felt pretty rough the following day and that evening I started having non-stop, intense hiccups. I was also producing brown sick, so my wife called for an ambulance. I got taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital where, after quite a wait, had a CT scan and the tumour in my bowel was identified.

I will never, ever forgot lying on the hospital bed in a corridor at hospital and being told “bad news, it’s a tumour.” In that moment, my whole world fell apart. Was it game over? Would I see my two girls grow up? I’d run a 10K in the local park four days previously and I was now being told I had a tumour that needed to be removed.

I had my surgery and was in hospital for 12 days. During my time there, I had several other scans to check the cancer hadn’t spread anywhere else and I couldn’t eat for five days, due to the bowel not functioning properly. Luckily, I was home for Christmas.

I subsequently then had three month (four cycles) of chemo. I was nervous and slightly scared about having chemo but, as it was, it was OK and the side effects were manageable. The main ones I had were feeling tired during my infusion week, my stomach being rather “up & down” while taking the two weeks of tablets and tingling in both my hands and face. I completed my course of chemo in May 2025.

After finishing my preventive course of chemo, I naively thought all was OK and I would be able to just crack in with life. But in November 2025, via the post treatment screening programme, it was found I had a small tumour in my liver. I have subsequently learnt that having a tumour form in your liver after having bowel cancer is quite common. I did have slight discomfort in my right shoulder for a couple of weeks beforehand, which I've subsequently learnt can be a sign of liver cancer, known as "referred pain". Fortunately, due to it being caught early and it being small, I was able to have a liver resection in January 2026. This went well and the tumour was removed with clear margins. I am currently recovering from the surgery.

I got told by my oncologist that he does not feel there would be any benefit in me having another round of chemo and that I'll just be closely monitored, with three monthly blood tests and six monthly CT scans.

The information on the Bowel Cancer UK website and the forum is very useful and reassuring. I’ve learnt a lot about the disease over the last 12 months. I think the scariest thing is that bowel cancer seems to be affecting those under the age of 50.

My biggest message is that if you have any worries or concerns about a change in your bowel habits or any other symptoms, go to your GP or A&E department. Insist on getting scanned or having a colonoscopy.

Once you have been diagnosed and are going through treatment, just make sure you talk to people and don’t bottle up your worries and concerns.

I'll forever more be concerned about the cancer returning but I know I’m in good hands with my consultant and his team. I just now need to get on and enjoy life with my beautiful family.