I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 48 — we need to lower the screening age

 A survivor wants other patients to have the same ‘good news story’ outcome that he had

Brendan Donlan who was treated for bowel cancer seven years ago. Picture: Moya Nolan

Brendan Donlon, who runs his own communications firm in Dublin, didn’t have obvious symptoms for long before he was diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 48. Instead, for three days, he had one “symptom that became impossible to ignore”.

“In hindsight, there were some subtle symptoms: I was a little bit more tired than usual, I had slight back pain that I put down to carrying the goals off the pitches for my son’s GAA team. But then, just before the June bank holiday weekend in 2018, there were sudden changes; the most significant was that my poos were getting thinner.”