A Geelong man is encouraging people to help raise awareness of bowel cancer and empower everyone affected to live their best life.
Bowel Cancer Australia’s signature awareness event, Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, will run throughout this month to highlight the country’s second deadliest cancer.
Bowel Cancer Australia advocate Jules Mieszkowski was diagnosed with stage three early-onset bowel cancer at 47.
“I had a stitch-like pain in my stomach, and it progressively got worse, but not to the point where I was too concerned,” Mr Mieszkowski said.
“After two weeks, though, it was not getting any better… I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2022, and after surgery and chemotherapy, I was clear.
“I (then) went three years almost without any evidence of disease, but the cancer had come back.”
Mr Mieszkowski was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer in his pelvis and said people needed to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer.
“It’s important that research is shared. My mother died of ovarian cancer, and now they’re coming up with tenuous links between the two,” he said.
“Had someone told me 10 years ago when my mum died that I should go get myself checked out or be aware of the risk, it could have extended my life by a long time.”
Bowel Cancer Australia chief executive Julien Wiggins said the risk of being diagnosed with bowel cancer “before age 40 had more than doubled since 2000”.
“In 2024, it (bowel cancer) is estimated to be the deadliest cancer for men and the second deadliest cancer for women under 50,” he added.
“As screening is not routinely offered to people at average risk under 45, we need to improve awareness among GPs and the public about the red flag signs and symptoms of early-onset bowel cancer.
“This remains the primary opportunity for early detection provided young people received prompt colonoscopy referral to rule out bowel cancer as an underlying cause of their symptoms.”
