Lorraine Kelly was joined by some giant parachute pants on today’s Lorraine for the show’s ‘No Butts’ campaign.
Relaunching the life-saving movement, which is now in its second year, the campaign aims to smash the stigma around bowel cancer – giving people the confidence to get to the doctors if everything isn’t so peachy down there.
A special message from Deborah James in hospital was shown and her mother, Heather joined Lorraine as well as Dr Anisha Patel outside ITV Television Centre.
Lorraine said: “[She’s] quite frail, but the spirit is there. She’s quite remarkable, isn’t she?”
Mum Heather said: “Not the Easter we’d planned, but a good Easter in a different way – we put the bunny ears on and delivered eggs and we got outside of ICU – now she’s got the infection under control and hopefully she’ll be back dancing soon.”
Lorraine said: “She’s the driving force, she’s saved lives. You must be so proud of her.”
“She really is wanting to get the message out there for other people not to have to go through what we’re going through at the moment,” said Heather. “I’d never even heard of bowel cancer five years ago and now it’s been our lives. It can affect anybody. Young or old, so you must get that message out there.”
Dr Anisha Patel, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in her 30s, told Lorraine, “I was 39 when I was diagnosed. I didn’t think it could happen to me. No one is ever too young to have bowel cancer. Over 2,600 are diagnosed under the age of 50 every year. It’s not a rarity and this is why this campaign is vital. You must go and see your GP if you have any concerns.”
Live from the top of Blackpool Tower where he’s literally flying the flag for the ‘No Butts’ campaign, Dr Amir shouted from way up high about the importance of talking about toilet habits.
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about your poo, any kind of change in your bowel habits – us as GPs, we’re used to talking about it with our patients, with each other, honestly we talk about it over lunch, so everybody should be doing the same. It’s not disgusting – it’s just normal bodily functions and if there’s anything that’s changed, you need to go and see your clinician about it.
“Thousands are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, yet four out of ten people don’t know the symptoms to look out for and our ‘No Butts’ campaign has made that really easy for us to remember. So remember the word bowel, that will help you know the symptoms.”
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV and ITV Hub
