Under two years ago, 53-year-old Paul Scanlon was busy training for the London Marathon. A keen runner, he had built up a collection of shirts over the years, thanks to his charity fundraising. But, what Paul initially thought were signs of the intensity of his training turned out to be symptoms of bowel cancer and he now lives with a stoma bag.
The Cardiff grandad had been training for the London Marathon in 2021 when he noticed blood in his stool, putting it down to the amount of running he was doing. But, after completing the event the problem started to get worse. Paul decided it was time to see a doctor - but life got in the way.
"It's funny like that - Christmas came, Christmas goes, you're into 2022... I was having a bit of lower back pain, but nothing really bad," he said. But on a family holiday to Gambia the problem started to get worse. "I knew something was seriously, seriously wrong."
