Dean Gaffney has urged people to check their stools after the I’m A Celebrity medical team 'saved his life' when they made a massive discovery.
The Eastenders actor revealed he 'might not be here today' if it wasn't for the health examinations carried out by the ITV medical team.
Gaffney is now using his platform to spread awareness over particular symptoms - one of which he admitted to having but never got checked out.
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Gaffney is fresh from the jungle after appearing on the spin-off show joined by a bunch of fellow star-studded I'm A Celeb alumni.
The soap legend was joined by series winner Myleene Klass, runner-up Jordan Banjo and the Happy Monday's Shaun Ryder to take part in this year's all-new 'Legend' series.
However, before he entered the South African jungle this year, Gaffney revealed he had a very serious health scare.
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But, thanks to the help of the medical team at ITV, the actor managed to overcome the stress and successfully got the issues sorted.
Gaffney was originally set to star in the show back in 2020 but, after having gone through a series of medical checks, health professionals discovered warning signs of bowel cancer.
After receiving some irregular results from blood tests, doctors decided to get him booked in for both a gastroscopy and a colonoscopy to further investigate.
Gaffney told the Mirror doctors found some polyps in his large intestine with one of them being up to '20mm' in size and told him they 'could have turned to bowel cancer'.
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The 45-year-old's doctors later 'burned the polyps' away in an emergency procedure.
He recalled to the outlet that doctors told him after the procedure: "Had you not come to us today, in three years that could have turned to bowel cancer. You’ve been very lucky."
Gaffney said: "I still remember his exact words. I feel so, so lucky. It’s made me so careful about checking my stools."
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He continued: "The doctors were asking why didn’t I notice blood in my stool. I’m sorry but I’m not Gillian McKeith, I just flush the toilet, I don’t make a habit of looking at my stools.
"Any time I’ve ever seen a bit of red I just think, maybe I’ve had peri-peri sauce. I’m not tired and run-down, because I’ve been quite lucky. I don’t smoke, I rarely drink. I haven’t been to a doctor in years."
Now three years on since the health scare, the actor is using his platform to spread information and is urging anyone worried about signs of cancer to get themselves checked out.
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According to NHS Inform, the three main symptoms of bowel cancer are 'blood in the stools (faeces)', 'changes in bowel habit – such as more frequent, looser stools' and 'abdominal (tummy) pain'.
"I’m so grateful to the people on the show for bringing it to my attention. I check my stools all the time now," he added.
"I’d urge others to do it, too."
Gaffney concluded: "I have a good life, a wonderful family, and I feel so lucky that I’m not battling cancer thanks to the I’m A Celebrity medical team."
Find out more about the symptoms of bowel cancer here.
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Cancer, Im A Celebrity, ITV, TV and Film
Rhiannon Ingle