CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride is supporting Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer’s campaign to help raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms, as part of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month this April.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second biggest cancer killer, affecting both men and women.

If diagnosed early the disease is almost always survivable but only around 15 per cent of people are diagnosed at the earliest stage.

Being aware of key symptoms and visiting your GP if things don’t feel right can help increase chances of an early diagnosis. Symptoms can include bleeding from your bottom, blood in your stool, a persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit, unexplained weight loss, extreme tiredness for no obvious reason and a pain or lump in your stomach.

Mr Stride said: “I am fully behind Bowel Cancer UK and the Beating Bowel Cancer campaign to educate people about the symptoms of bowel cancer so more people are diagnosed earlier and treated sooner.

“If you have any of the symptoms and are worried that something is wrong it is far better to visit your GP and find it was nothing to worry about than not go and find out later that it was bowel cancer but that it has now spread.”

For more detailed information on bowel cancer symptoms visit: www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-bowel-cancer/symptoms .