I had noticed a very small amount of blood in my stools around mid August time (I can’t remember exactly when I first noticed this). My memory of the exact timing is a bit hazy but I think I told my wife about it and she told me to order a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) test via an e-consult. The FIT test is used to detect small amounts of human haemoglobin (a sign of blood) in the stool. I needed a fair bit of reminding to do this as I was convinced that I had nothing to worry about and that the small amount of blood now and again was just haemorrhoids or caused by spending hours on a bike seat etc. How could this possibly be anything serious? I’d won my age group and finished in the top ten overall in the notoriously tough Snowman Legend triathlon held on August the 1st, done well in the double ROC and late season Abersoch events (as mentioned above) and felt invincible. After more persistent encouragement from my wife, I got round to doing the FIT test late October. The test came back positive and two weeks later (13th of November) the colorectal team at Ysbyty Gwynedd found a 5cm tumor, 8cm from my rectum, hanging off the bowel wall. A biopsy was taken on the day and within two weeks both CT and MRI scans had been completed. The presurgical diagnosis and prognosis were that the tumor was malignant but hadn’t grown deep into the bowel wall, no lymph nodes were infected, and the cancer hadn’t spread to other organs, therefore the aim was curative surgery. After surgery, the aforementioned diagnosis and prognosis was confirmed definitively. Due to complications, I ended up in surgery three times (a little bit like doing a swim, bike and run but slightly more painful). All of the staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd worked incredibly hard, I don’t know how they put up with me. I owe my life to my amazing wife, Catherine Connell. I wouldn’t have gone to see the doctor until it was too late, it’s impossible to put my praise into words for all her support.