Fundraiser Peter Harrold, 71, warns others not to ignore blood in the toilet after bowel cancer left him with two colostomy bags for life.

A man has warned others not to ignore blood in the toilet after bowel cancer left him with two colostomy bags for life.

Peter Harrold, from Market Rasen, is taking on a 15km swim as part of Bowel Cancer UK’s annual Swim15 event, refusing to let his diagnosis stop him from taking to the water.

The 71-year-old found out he had stage one bowel cancer in 2015 after completing a bowel cancer screening test and was called in for further examination where a small, abnormal tissue growth, called a polyp, was found.

“They explained usually they can snip them off, but this one was more difficult, which was a problem,” said Peter.

He was referred to a consultant at Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre who explained it appeared to be stage one bowel cancer.

His consultant recommended he have surgery, and in September 2015, Peter had a section of his bowel removed.

However the problems continued with his bowels for the next two years, including sometimes having to go to the toilet up to 20 times a day.

Eventually, he was referred back to the hospital and further examination showed that his bowel had been perforated, meaning he had to have his bowel and bladder removed and have two colostomy bags for the rest of his life.

Peter said the experience had been extremely tough, but the doctors and staff had been “amazing”.

“All the time I kept thinking ‘I'm going to go home, I’m going to survive this,’ and somehow, I did,” he said.

“I always try to be positive - I think luck has something to do with it, some people get stabbed once and die - Salman Rushdie got stabbed 15 times and survived.”

Now Peter hopes to encourage more people to do the screening as bowel cancer can be easier to treat the earlier it is caught.

“I say to everyone – do the poo test and don’t ignore blood in the toilet.”

The 71-year-old will be joining many other this month in swimming the 15km to help fund the research that helps people like himself.

“I can’t walk far so swimming is the ideal exercise for me and that’s why I’ve chosen to take part.”

Others can sign up here.

Is this something you would take part in? Let us know in the comments.