Brendan Donlon is a married father of one from Ballinteer in Dublin, and he was just 48 when he was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer. Brendan featured in our #NoRegrets 2024 campaign( you can view this in his above video) and is supporting us once again this year to raise awareness.

This is his story.

Brendan Donlon is a married father of one from Ballinteer in Dublin, and he was just 48 when he was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer.

This is his story.

“I was 48 when diagnosed in June 2018, and had no dramatic symptoms until around 24 hours before walking into the Emergency Department with a total bowel blockage. (Not fun - would not recommend. I couldn't even fart! The pain was exquisite…)

I had always had a pretty broad spectrum of bowel habits - so a couple days of slow-moving bowels was neither surprising nor ominous compared to the news I subsequently got. However, I now know there were two red-flag symptoms for day or two before I got the complete blockage - and I should have been aware these were urgent: First, my poops were getting progressively thinner, and secondly, my stomach noises had become so loud that we had to turn up the volume to hear the telly! But I didn't know either of these were something I should have checked out sooner… I also didn't know that at the age of 48, I was even within reach of an age where I should consider screening.

I was given a CT scan in the Emergency Department, and the docs could see a growth had caused the blockage. They immediately got me into theatre to release the blockage and release the pressure on my bowel - which saved my life and prevented a bowel rupture.

A few days later, while I was still in hospital recovering from the bowel resection, Pathology confirmed it was a tumour, and that it had spread to a lot of surrounding lymph nodes, so I was Pt3 N1b Mx, or advanced Stage 3 in layman's terms…

My lucky break was that the tumour had grown "across" rather than "along" my colon - which is why I got the sudden blockage. But the tumour had undoubtedly been there for some time, and would almost certainly have been caught if I had had a colonoscopy from age 45, which is now the best-practice recommendation in the U.S.

I was also incredibly lucky that my surgeon was able to join the colon together - after removing around 30cm - so I didn't need a stoma.

After I recovered from my surgery, I had 12 rounds of FolFox over around six months. I was dreading this, and although it was tough, with hindsight I'm grateful that I got this kind of course of treatment. Some friends I made at the time only had half this course of treatment for the same stage of cancer, and now they have metastatic cancers.

I've been extensively tested, scanned, and scoped since 2018. The intervals of these colonoscopies were gradually and cautiously stretched from three monthly to six monthly to annually. This was because my scopes found polyps almost every time they checked. (I have been tested for Lynch syndrome, and don't have that… I'm just a very efficient polyp maker.) But as of summer 2024, my team determined that my ongoing clear results had made it safe to check every five years. This “graduation” from intensive surveillance is a true privilege, and I’m very grateful for the care and attention I’ve had since diagnosis.

I want to make people aware that they must push for their own checks as soon as they turn 45, or at any point if they have recurring changes to their bowel habits. It's particularly important to raise awareness in Men, as the recent figures from NCRI show that men are 50% more likely to be diagnosed with this cancer. It seems that women with early onset colorectal cancers are often ignored by the medical profession when they report symptoms, while men just ignore the symptoms all by themselves…

I also want to pressure decision makers in government to lower the public screening age. It's just been lowered to 59 in Ireland, compared to the NHS ambition to start at 50, and the US surgeon general's advice to start screening at 45. Finally, I want people to understand how easy it is to do the FIT test, and to get a scope if the test shows they need one. It’s especially useful to compare the grueling surgical and chemotherapy treatments for bowel cancer compared to how easy it is to have a polyp removed when you’re getting a colonoscopy. Getting this screening done won’t only check for possible cancer – it can stop a polyp from becoming a tumour in the first place.”

Brendan is sharing his story  to raise awareness of Bowel Cancer and urge the public to have #NoRegrets and get checked if the notice any symptoms of Bowel Cancer and to have #NoRegrets and advocate for your health. Bowel cancer is not just a disease of older age. We continue our call to reduce screening age now from 59 to 50!