Advertisement

'Britain's longest surviving bowel cancer patient' describes the importance of early diagnosis

Bex Papa-Adams was diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer at the age of 29 and told she had about a year to live. Now 17 years and nine major operations later, the 45-year-old, mum-of-three is cancer-free.

Video transcript

REBECCA PAPA-ADAMS: Well, I can't stress enough how that early diagnosis is paramount. If you see me now, you see me looking healthy, and fit, and well. But underneath all these clothes and layers I've got a battlefield of scars.

I've got a stoma. You want to avoid that. You want you to keep your health. You want to live to see your family. I wouldn't have had to endure all this if that diagnosis was there from day one.