domain: www.bbc.com | name: بي بي سي | icon:

A cruise ship musician has urged people to have bowel cancer screening after he was diagnosed with the disease despite having no symptoms.

Steve Hollington, 58, was diagnosed with stage three cancer in 2022 after completing bowel screening - the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT).

The singer, of Warrington, Cheshire, said the test was like a "winning lottery ticket" as it saved his life.

The test detects small amounts of blood in poo that would not be visible.

Mr Hollington told BBC North West Today: "One of these poo on a stick test packs things arrived.

"I'd never had them before, never requested it and had no symptoms.

"To my amazement, shock and horror - it was bowel cancer."

He added: "By early December I was arriving at surgery and thankfully it was operable - stage three.

"The surgeon said if we had not found it when we did, if it had gone a few more months, it would probably have gone inoperable.

"It is such a simple thing to do. It can save your life and I feel that's what it's done for me."

The test can be done at home and then sent off.

Mr Hollington has now reworked Elton John's classic Your Song to help raise awareness of bowel cancer screening.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

Related Topics