A dad who visited hospital eight years ago with bloating has revealed he hasn't been able to sit down properly since.
Glyn Salmon, from Greasby village in Merseyside, noticed a problem three decades ago when he had bowel polyps removed when he discovered blood in his stool, Liverpool Echo reports.
The 63-year-old, who is a former member of Tranmere Rovers' coaching staff, admitted he was scared of the word "cancer", but his fears were silenced by his doctor who told him they weren't cancerous.
The keen cyclist said: "The word 'cancer' had never crossed my mind, and when he mentioned, the actual fear that came over me was just unbelievable.
"I just didn't realise. I just thought it was like a wart removal if truth be told, because I was so young and so full of life and into my sport. I'd just never never dreamt of it, even though I was having blood in my poo."
Two decades on, blood returned to his stool, and Glyn suddenly became bloated.
He went to hospital, where he spent the next week undergoing tests, but health professional couldn't find the cause.
At a follow-up appointment two weeks later, he told the consultant he was still passing blood and suggested a colonoscopy, which hadn't happened during his hospital stay.
Using a small camera to look inside Glyn's bowels, they found more polyps, most of them small.
"I didn't want to tell my wife," he explained.
"She had an occasion and I didn't want to spoil that for her. If she knew, it would spoil her day.
"I let her have that few hours of real pleasure with her friends before telling her what's going on. Knowing afterwards was not going to make any difference to the outcome."
He was diagnosed with bowel cancer and needs surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Glyn, who has tried to remain positive following the diagnosis, said: "I didn't actually realise what it meant to them until I saw them and told them. Just seeing the emotion in their eyes and the fear that I might not be here, that was the most upsetting thing."
"I still talk to people that I met in radiotherapy waiting rooms to this day. It really was so uplifting to know that you're not on your own."
Six weeks of chemo and radiotherapy was followed by two years of tests every three months to make sure the cancer was gone.
Glyn added: "You know when when somebody's feeling your pain. The doctor's shoulders just sank and he said, 'Glyn, I'm so sorry, I found something on your anus, I need to get you into theatre as soon as possible so we can have a look and take a biopsy'.
"I was flat. I actually thought I'd come through and I felt so good. There weren't any signs this time. There wasn't any bloating and there wasn't any poo in my blood. I felt great because I was exercising again, and then he finds this.
"My biggest concern again was my kids and my wife. I was just so worried about them. How would they take it? How would they deal with it?
"Because I knew I'd be looked after, I knew that I would have so much TLC from people, from the NHS, from Macmillan. But I had to face my children again and tell them that I've got cancer again. That was just horrible."
Understandably nervous, Glyn's last thoughts before going into surgery was if he'll see his family again.
But when he woke up, he described it as like a "party", with people crowded round his bed.
The surgery weakened Glyn's pelvic floor so much it caused a hernia and another surgery was required.
After this, the Merseyside man has been left with severe nerve pain in his pelvis and has stopped him from sitting down comfortably for almost a decade and requires a commode to stand while he has dinner with his family.
He has since bought a recumbent bike, which allows him to cycle while leaning back, and has used it to ride over the Stelvio Pass in Italy, which he'd postponed due to cancer.
Glyn raised more than £4,000 for Maggie's Wirral after completing it in three and a half hours.
He said: "Even though things have got worse and I can't exercise anymore, I still live with the hope that my consultant will find something that will work. Even if it only works for a couple of days, to get that peace from unrelenting pain would be worth its weight in gold."
Despite his own struggles, Glyn worries how bad things could have been if his cancerous polyp had been allowed to grow.
He added: "It's really important that when these tests are put in front of people, they use them. They're free and they've got the potential to save your life."
