'I ignored symptoms, then doctors found tumour the size of a grapefruit'

Wales Online

06-05-2025

'I ignored symptoms, then doctors found tumour the size of a grapefruit'
Matt thought he had an upset stomach, then he was rushed in for 10 hours of emergency surgery
Matt had no idea he was seriously ill
Matt Black says he wasn't concerned when he had an upset stomach and felt tired because it was during the Covid pandemic and there seemed to be more urgent things to worry about. Then his symptoms got worse; soon he was struggling to keep food in, had terrible night sweats, an upset stomach and was very lethargic. He was also losing weight, but didn't realise at the time.
Eventually he was forced to go to A&E and admitted to hospital. In the middle of the night, a doctor came to tell Matt he was pretty sure that he had colon cancer. 'It was 2.30am and there was not a lot I could do,' Matt said. 'It was a life-changing moment. I sort of lay there, pretty stunned with a mix of emotions.'
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An emergency surgeon decided to operate straight away and said that the procedure would take about an hour. Matt was eventually in theatre for nearly 10 hours.
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'They opened me up and found a tumour the size of a grapefruit, nine by six centimetres blocking my colon,' he said. 'If it had been there much longer I would not be here to tell my story.'
Surgeons removed two thirds of Matt's colon and he spent two weeks in intensive care. By the time he was discharged he was in a wheelchair and had to relearn how to walk. Down from a pre-cancer weight of 12st 12lb to 9st 12lb, he was a shadow of his former self.
But luckily, the operation removed all of the cancer and, apart from taking an aspirin a day, he needed no further treatment. Matt, now 60, had believed he was familiar with cancer symptoms as his sister Harriette had died just a year before of pancreatic cancer.
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Matt had two thirds of his colon removed
But he says he was unaware of what was going on in own body and also concerned about taking up NHS resources, especially during the pandemic. The real estate agent, from London, initially went to the GP in March 2020 and it was only when he went to A&E two months later that the tumour was identified.
'The first symptoms I began to suffer were right at the beginning of Covid,' he says. 'I didn't realise I was losing weight because at the time we were not seeing anybody outside my immediate family and I wasn't weighing myself, so I didn't really notice. I felt really lethargic and really tired as I was going to bed early every night, even when we were celebrating my son Leo's 17th birthday.
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'There were a couple of spots of blood in my poo, but that was right towards the end.'
Matt is passionate about raising awareness of cancer and encouraging men to come forward if they notice any changes in their body. Statistics from NHS England show that 31% of men put off a visit to the GP because they are afraid of a potential diagnosis.
'It's so important to be aware of any sign of change in your body and your habits,' Matt says. 'Look at your poo, check it. If you've had persistent tummy troubles, such as diarrhoea or discomfort there is a chance it could be cancer.
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'Unexplained weight loss, night sweats, stomach problems - these can all be signs. Don't ignore them. Don't wait. Finding cancer early makes it more treatable and could save your life. Everyone naturally is in fear of getting bad news. I was probably the same. But if I'd waited and waited, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
'I was incredibly lucky that they identified it just in time because it could have grown or ruptured and that could have been fatal."
The NHS recommends contacting your GP if you have tummy trouble such as discomfort or diarrhoea for three weeks or more. You should also speak to a doctor if you have blood in your urine, even just once.