A DRAKES Broughton father of two is back on top of the world after successful bowel cancer surgery.
Nick Turner became worried that something ‘wasn’t right’ with his insides during a skiing holiday in Austria in February 2018.
Exactly one year later, 60-year-old Nick was back on a snow-capped mountain – this time in the French Alps – following successful surgery for bowel cancer.
“It is an understatement to say it had been quite a year,” said Nick, who lives with his wife Jackie and two daughters Fran and Heather.
He is now supporting Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, which runs throughout April, and is delighted the government has in the past year lowered the age of people being offered screening for the disease from 60 down to 50 years.
“From being healthy, fit and active I suddenly found myself undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from my lower colon, dealing with having an ileostomy stoma and having to cope with a five month, often uncomfortable recovery process.
“But, back at the top of the mountain and ‘cancer clear’ I was so thankful I had acted quickly in seeking medical advice. It really did make a massive difference to both my treatment and its results,” he said.
“I had already started to think that something was not quite right. I noticed flecks/streaks of what might have been blood in my stools and was experiencing a noticeable change in toilet habits.
“Having been very regular, I’d started to need to go much more frequently. I also thought additional discomfort might be piles, although I’d never suffered from such a complaint before.
“The Austrian holiday in Kitzbuhel was quite intense – both the hard skiing and, of course, the Apres-ski socialising every evening! My symptoms became much more noticeable whilst I was away. I was making frequent toilet stops on the mountains and the evidence of blood became more than just a suspicion. It was very obvious, something was definitely wrong!”
Nick was sent for a series of tests and scans which confirmed he had a cancerous tumour. However, because it was in its early stages it could be surgically removed without the need for any pre-op chemo or radiotherapy.
After speaking to Steve Pandey, consultant colorectal surgeon at the Worcestershire Bowel Clinic in Spire South Bank Hospital in Worcester, Nick underwent surgery on his wife’s 50th birthday.
During his recovery, things went so well just weeks after his second operation the proud dad was able to attend daughter Fran’s graduation at Aberystwyth University and the weekend later, camp out at the Upton Blues Festival.
“So far, things have turned out very well for me, but others are not always so fortunate,” said Nick. “Spotting it early is so important. If I’d not experienced what I had whilst on holiday, I may not have sought medical advice and who knows what I could be having to deal with now!’’
‘’You don’t have to be a male in your 50s or 60s to get bowel cancer – people in their 20s and 30s, many of them female, can be affected.”
