BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen has announced he has bowel cancer.
The Middle East editor told BBC Breakfast he is now undergoing treatment after having surgery to remove a tumour in his bowel .
He was appearing alongside Deborah Alsina, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK, and said: "I had funny pains in my legs and my back, had to go to hospital for a few days but they didn't say it was cancer, they said it was scar tissue from a previous operation.
"I had no symptoms but thought I should get a test, it came back positive. I had a colonoscopy, from that they found a tumour. I had an operation to take it away and now I'm going through chemo.
"I'm confident that I'm going through the best treatment and it was caught early.
"The key thing is to get tested, I've told all my friends to get to their doctors for a test. Bowels and poo are not the normal things people want to talk about, but don't die of embarrassment, for god's sake."
Jeremy's BBC colleague George Alagiah also battled bowel cancer in 2014, returning to the News At Six in January after more than a year off for treatment.
He said his disease is now in a "holding pattern" after several gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and three major operations, including the removal of most of his liver after the stage 4 cancer spread to his organ and lymph nodes.
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