Presenter’s mum on bowel cancer ordeal

BBC Wales presenter Lucy Owen has opened up about her mother’s cancer diagnosis – and also got herself tested for bowel cancer.

Her mum Patsy was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 82 in 2021 after ignoring the home test kits she had received over the years.

The 52-year-old, who is from Llandaff, spoke to her mum in a candid interview about the ordeal.

The age to receive a home test for bowel cancer, the UK’s second biggest killer, lowered to 51 last year, and will go down again to 50 this year. Due to her age, a testing kit recently landed on Lucy’s doormat, she told BBC Wales.

It was only when Patsy’s symptoms became severe that she finally went to see her GP.

“I had to admit to myself that the changes had become quite acute and I couldn’t go on much longer without sorting it out,” she said.

“I had to explain that I thought that something was wrong and could they send me a test, and they did.”

She added: “It’s just nothing, you put it in the post and that’s it. And if you get a telephone call saying, we need to look further into this, well perhaps you’ve saved your life by doing this.”