Its potential symptoms can be embarrassing for people to talk about but Walsall Healthcare staff are playing their part in encouraging early detection and diagnosis this Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.

According to Bowel Cancer UK, someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer every 15 minutes and it’s the UK’s second biggest cancer killer. In Walsall around 130 people a year are affected with more than 80 of those having major surgery.

It is treatable and curable – especially if diagnosed early – and throughout April ‘Percy Poo’ will be appearing at GP surgeries and health centres throughout the borough to raise awareness and help save lives.

Symptoms to look out for are:

A change in bowel habit lasting three weeks or more

Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo

Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason

A pain or lump in your tummy

Unexplained weight loss

Sharon White, outreach and information support officer at Walsall Palliative Care Centre said: “It’s important that people can access information on the symptoms of bowel cancer and the NHS screening programme.

“Most people with these symptoms don’t have bowel cancer but if they have one or more of these, or if things just don’t feel right, they should go and see their GP. While it can be embarrassing for people to talk about their toilet habits those few moments of awkwardness could actually save lives.

“We’re urging people to look out for the Percy Poo character too and spread the word among their family and friends. While the most common age group affected by bowel cancer is the over 60s it can affect younger people too so the more we raise awareness the better.”

For more information please contact Sharon on 01922 602613 or email sharon.white@walsall.nhs.uk