didn’t think much of it when he began experiencing monthly bouts of diarrhoea.
The part-time DJ, 43, from south London, simply assumed he had a delicate constitution, irritated by late night kebabs.
This continued for three years until, in August 2024, Daniel who primarily works as a director at Heathrow Airport, was almost caught short while DJ’ing on a Pride float.
‘There was always just an explanation for my symptoms – I thought it was from a late night, a dodgy kebab or irritable bowel syndrome. I wasn’t ignoring it,’ he says.
‘But when I was DJing on a float during Pride, I thought I was about to experience what would have been the most embarrassing moment of my life.’
By September he was also experiencing breathlessness. But it wasn’t until he saw a photo of himself on holiday and realised how unwell he looked that he booked an appointment to see his GP.
After returning home, he underwent a barrage of tests and was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer, presenting as a 10cm tumour in his small intestine.
‘I felt like the air had just been sucked out of me,’ he recalls. ‘When I got that call I knew it was going to be something significant like cancer.’
Daniel is now campaigning to make bowel cancer less taboo, encouraging people in the queer community to speak out about their symptoms
At this point, Daniel was told the tumour was ‘too serious’ to operate on.
‘My world changed, my life changed on that day,’ he said.
‘I felt like I could feel the shift of the world on its axis. Nothing really felt real, and for a really long time, I felt like it wasn’t happening to me.’
A month after his diagnosis on October 29 2024, Daniel stated immunotherapy – a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to find and attack cancer cells.
However, towards the end of his treatment, he developed inflammation in his lungs.
He was prescribed steroids to treat the condition – known as pneumonitis – which sadly caused psychosis and delusions.
‘It sent me absolutely crazy,’ he remembers.
After a long road to recovery, Daniel finally underwent surgery in March 2025 to have the tumour removed.
Daniel put his symptoms down to lifestyle choices for years. Then he was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer
It was only when he was DJing on a float for Brighton Pride in 2024 that he thought something could be seriously wrong
The procedure was successful, and doctors were able to resect two thirds of the tumour, also removing 51 nearby lymph nodes that the cancer had spread to.
In April 2025, he was given the all clear.
‘It felt like the most surreal moment ever,’ he said.
‘I remember being in floods of tears, and my support worker saying to me, ‘Dan, you were inoperable, and look at where you are now.’’
The part-time DJ now undergoes blood test every three months and scans every six months, to make sure the cancer has not returned.
He is also required to have a colonoscopy – a medical procedure to examine the inside lining of the bowel – once a year.
He believes his brush with cancer has put his life into perspective and made him more appreciative of the little moments with loved ones.
Daniel has since raised £4,300 for Macmillan and Outpatients, which he achieved by holding a ‘Silly Bowel Disco’ at a queer night club.
Daniel with Diane Carson
Daniel with his fiance, Harry
‘It was my way of putting my middle finger up to cancer – we did it in a camp and fabulous way,’ he said.
‘We had drag queens, symptoms to look out for on the back of toilet doors in glitter.’
He added: ‘Talking about our bums and poo can be hard and embarrassing for a lot of us, and I don’t think we talk enough about cancer in the LGBTQ+ community.’
Cases of bowel cancer have soared in recent years – with more than 48,000 people diagnosed in the UK every year. It’s now the leading cause of death in under 50s.
Common symptoms include changes in bowel habits, such as persistent diarrhoea or constipation, a feeling of incomplete emptying, and blood in the stool.
Stomach pain, bloating, unexpected weight loss and fatigue are other warning signs.
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second biggest cause of cancer deaths, claiming more than 17,000 lives every year.
But Cancer Research UK estimates that more than half (54 per cent) of bowel cancer cases in Britain are preventable.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login