I never thought it would be me. I thought it would be the drinker, the smoker, the one who eats rubbish and is carrying too much weight who would be diagnosed with bowel cancer. I’m a personal trainer. I do 24-hour races and Hyrox. I’m a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

I got my bowel cancer screening test through on my 54th birthday and thought, ‘I’ll do that at some point,’ because I didn’t feel it was applicable to me – I was fit and healthy, with no symptoms. I told my friend, a cancer nurse, and they said, ‘You’re mad. Do it tonight.’ I did, and it came back with irregularities. My friend reassured me it would probably be a polyp. When I went for a colonoscopy, all the other guys were being told, ‘Thanks very much – nothing to report.’ They told me, ‘The doctors would like to have a word.’ I knew something was up. They’d found something that needed further investigation. They gave me a printout, so I sent a picture to my friend. When they replied, ‘God, I’m so sorry,’ I knew the severity of it.

I wasn’t concerned about myself. I was worried about my wife, Pumi. Was my life insurance in place? What was Pumi going to do? The day of my surgery, I asked a friend to bring Pumi, because I looked like I’d been in a car crash. I was out of my mind on morphine, with tubes coming out of me, and she would have to drive home after seeing me like that.

After the colonoscopy, an MRI and CT scan revealed the tumour was 4cm, so they had to go in through my stomach to operate. They said, ‘These are the worst-case scenarios: a) you don’t wake up, b) you have a heart attack, c) you have a big scar and a colostomy bag, because we couldn’t get it out through the incision in your stomach.’ When I woke up, the first thing I did was pull the gown open to see if I had a colostomy bag. I didn’t; they’d got it out. The lymph nodes in my bowel wall were inflamed, too, so they were sent off for a biopsy. Two weeks later, I was told they were just inflamed – no cancer – which was huge.

‘There were all these people running around trying to save my life’

I’m self-employed, so I was worrying how long it would be until I got back to work. While I was in hospital, one of the jiu-jitsu coaches, Adam, started a GoFundMe. I would never have sanctioned it – I’m proud – but it got £8,500 in two weeks, which paid my bills for a couple of months and took the stress away from being off work. I was in hospital for 16 days. Going into theatre was the most humbling moment – there were all these people running around trying to save my life.

Once out, I went into a bit of a ‘it doesn’t matter’ phase. One day, Pumi came home and piled all the chocolates people had given me into a box and took it to work. I needed that. My fighting weight is 69kg and I went up to 73.5kg – the heaviest I’ve ever been, with a lovely little belly. Exercise-wise, it was baby steps at first – I was walking around, but I couldn’t exert myself. I started coaching after two months, but no one let me touch anything – all my clients were moving the weights around themselves. Bit by bit, I would pick up 5kg, then 10kg. My op was on 3 September, and by mid-December, I got signed off to train. That first session was lovely, and within three weeks, I was back to full speed.

What to read next

It’s changed me. I’ve always lived life to the full, but it’s made me more appreciative, especially of the people I have around me. You make all these plans, but you don’t know if you’re getting to the weekend – it makes you think about that.

The Expert View

Dr Claire Coughlan, clinical lead at Bowel Cancer UK, on bowel cancer symptoms.

What Are the Signs?

Bleeding from the bottom, blood in poo or a change in pooing habits. You might experience unexplained weight loss, fatigue or a pain or lump in your stomach.

What Is the Treatment?

Surgery is the most common treatment. You may have surgery together with radiotherapy or chemotherapy to make the cancer easier to remove or if there is a risk of the cancer coming back.

What Are the Ways You Can Protect Yourself?

Around half of all bowel cancers could be prevented by having a healthier lifestyle. This includes eating lots of fibre, avoiding processed meat, limiting red meat, taking part in regular physical activity, stopping smoking and cutting down on alcohol.

For more information about bowel cancer, visit bowelcanceruk.org.uk