Dean Gaffney has revealed that he was rushed to emergency surgery after medical checks for I’m A Celebrity found potential signs for bowel cancer. The ex-Eastenders actor said that he felt fortunate to be alive after the serious scare.
In an interview with the Mirror, Dean said that he believed his life had been saved by the set’s medical crew. He explained: “There is no doubt I’m A Celeb and its medical team saved my life. I might not be here today if it wasn’t for them finding what they did.”
Dean, 45, appeared in the latest series of the show when he was eliminated on Wednesday two days before the final. It was when he appeared on the show in Wales in 2020 that the doctors discovered his problem and operated immediately.
He said: “Within hours I was in a hospital gown and under general anaesthetic and they took it out.” And Dean added that when he came around from the general anaesthetic the doctor told him: “Had you not come to us today, in three years that could have turned to bowel cancer. You’ve been very lucky.”
Dean said: “I still remember his exact words. I feel so, so lucky. It’s made me so careful about checking my stools.” He is now urging anyone worried about signs of cancer to get checked. And he hopes he can raise awareness of the disease like Bowelbabe fundraiser Dame Deborah James, who died aged 40 in June last year.
Dean said: “Dame Deborah was an inspiration to so many. I’ve so much respect for her fight and the awareness she raised for bowel cancer. If I can do a small fraction of that for men, it’d make me very happy.”
Dean played Robbie Jackson in EastEnders in various stints from 1993 to 2019.
In 2020, he was one of 12 stars on standby to take the place of any campmate in Gwrych Castle, near Abergele, Conwy, who caught Covid. Dean said: “I’m A Celebrity staff told me in September I’d got the job and I was called to a medical in October. I thought nothing of it and did the routine blood tests. When it came back, it showed I was losing blood.
“They thought it might be anaemia or an iron deficiency. I thought they were being a bit over the top. I was losing blood somewhere, I just felt maybe it’s low iron or something because I don’t take vitamins. While they waited for further tests, they put a camera down my throat. It’s like a pill with a camera attached, so when you swallow the pill you have a belt around your belly that can create something like 24,000 images a second. So it creates a film while this pill is going through your intestines. They then gave me a colonoscopy. “Later that day the results showed they had found polyps which were massive. One was huge. I think 20mm, which is big for a polyp.
“They didn’t mess about, they put me under general anaesthetic, operated and burned the polyps away. When I came round, I could see the doctors were slightly angry with me and it was serious.
“They didn’t mince their words and said how lucky I was it had been found now. I was stunned.”
NHS Bowel Cancer signs:
Symptoms of bowel cancer may include:ten
- changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
- needing to poo more or less often than usual for you
- blood in your poo, which may look red or black
- bleeding from your bottom
- often feeling like you need to poo, even if you’ve just been to the toilet
- tummy pain
- bloating
- losing weight without trying
- feeling very tired for no reason
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:
- your poo is black or dark red
- you have bloody diarrhoea
