Eastbourne teacher with ‘incurable’ cancer urges others to be proactive with going to their GP

Wayne Field, who has advanced bowel cancer, has joined the NHS’ ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign – which encourages anyone who has had stomach troubles, discomfort, diarrhoea for three weeks or more, or sees blood in their urine even once to contact their GP.

An NHS spokesperson said: “At the end of 2018 Wayne began noticing that his bowel movements were more regular, he was feeling much more fatigued, lost his appetite and was experiencing blood in his poo. He kept putting off getting it checked, but in 2019 he went to his GP and was sent for a colonoscopy. Two days later he and his wife were told he had stage three bowel cancer. In early 2020, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver and he was diagnosed with terminal stage four cancer.”

The 57-year-old said it is ‘incurable’ at this stage.

Mr Field, who is a PE teacher at Langney Primary Academy, added: “If I had my time again I would know what to do. It is so important to get the message across. I left it too long, I went through stages one, two and three because I left it about six months. I had a change of bowel habits and I should have identified that sooner. I should have gone to my GP sooner. I had discomfort, I had bloating.

"If you have any change in bowel habits, pee, diarrhoea, do not hesitate. It may be cancer, it may not be. The important thing is that if it is cancer they can treat it early.

“I was embarrassed to talk about blood in my poo, even to my wife. Now we are always talking about my poo, every day. It should be a natural thing. I just wish I went so much sooner because otherwise I would have not have been left with how it has left me.”

The NHS added: “Persistent tummy troubles can be a sign of a number of cancers, including bowel, ovarian or pancreatic cancer, and blood in pee – even just once, can be a sign of urological cancers, including bladder or kidney cancer.”

Since his diagnosis Mr Field has completed a number of fundraising events including a 100 push up a day challenge in November, where he raised more than £2,000, and several 10k runs.