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I travelled to Jordan and the Red Sea with my daughter, celebrated a 60th birthday in Spain and enjoyed a wedding in France.Ìý

My work as a counsellor and life coach was going well, and I loved being involved with Windows For Peace,Ìýbringing Jewish and Arab teenagers to Edinburgh for a summer school.

Life was busy, enriching and fun.

Symptoms

It was while I was in Edinburgh that I felt a bit ropey, with abdominal pain and constipation, which had been an intermittent problem.

I’d also been feeling more tired than usual, but put that down to my age - I’m 61, and worries about other family health concerns.

A week later, in September 2008, my life was turned upside down.

I was admitted to hospital as an emergency, and told I had very advanced cancer of the colon.Ìý

I am having chemotherapy just now but I have no idea how long I will live.

It could be months, maybe a year, but I don’t have a long life expectancy because the cancer wasn’t spotted early enough.

Brenda wants to make people more aware.

Completely curable

When this bolt out of the blue hit me, I decided I wanted to make people more aware of this disease as I had absolutely no idea that one in 20 people in England get it and that the symptoms are often so mild that they can easily be ignored.

The fact is, that if it is picked up early, it is completely curable.

Often it slips through the net because we disregard what appear to be trivial complaints – constipation, diarrhoea, blood in stools.

But if you are over 50-years-old, and have a sudden change in bowel habits you should go to the doctor and insist on having these complaints taken seriously.Ìý

A new screening programme is being rolled out for people aged 60 – 69 and I would urge everyone to take it seriously.

It could save your life.

I am delighted to have been able to make a film with Inside Out and hope that many people watch and learn from itÌýso they go for early diagnosis and treatment.