Call to lower age for bowel cancer screening

Bowel Cancer Ireland has renewed its calls for better prevention and screenings following the death of Irish Olympian and European champion runner Ciara Mageean.

The 34-year old, who died yesterday, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in July 2025.

Bowel Cancer Ireland collaborated with Ms Mageean following her diagnosis and is urging people to watch out for red flag symptoms.

Around one in ten bowel cancer diagnoses in Ireland are found in people under 50. However, the national BowelScreen programme is only for those aged 57-71.

Chair of Bowel Cancer Ireland Brendan Donlon called on people not to dismiss symptoms as he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland what symptoms to look out for.

"We need to talk about this. You can't die of embarrassment. If you've blood in your poo, and the blood could be red, or if it's part-digested, it could be black.

"So if your toilet bowl looks very red or very black, that's an immediate red flag. You must call a GP.

"Secondly, you know what your bowel changes are like. The consistency, the size, the shape, the regularity - if that changes and stays changed over a three-week period, again, call your GP.

"Finally, the classics, weight loss you can't explain, lasting pain or bloating, and tiredness that persists. But the key thing is you must not wait, and you must not dismiss symptoms.

"And also, if you're not being heard, get a second opinion."

Mr Donlon said that Ms Mageean was acutely aware of the reach and impact she had, and she reached out via social media to ask if there was anything she could do to assist in getting the message out there on awareness.

"Even right up to the day of her wedding, she was messaging me saying: 'What can we say next? What can we do next?'," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

He said that often young women find they have to advocate for themselves, as symptoms are put down to premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

"Unfortunately, most of the women in our group went to their GPs and particularly if they're under 50, they're told, you're fine, it's IBS, it's PMS, go away and come back.

"And it's really important, you will have to advocate unfortunately to get seen and to get referred."

"It (bowel cancer) is a very survivable cancer. It's one of the most treatable cancers if caught early and unfortunately one of the most lethal when caught late.

"That's why we have to focus our attention on raising awareness of symptoms, but also getting the Government to focus on lowering the screening age."

Read more: President leads tributes to 'wonderful' Ciara Mageean
Ciara Mageean's warmth and determination captured the nation's heart

Mr Donlon said that the general population screening age is far too old in this country, and needs to be brought down.

"It's 57," he said. "As a comparison, it's 45 in Australia, it's 50 in the UK, 45 in the US.

"Now the Minister has committed to lowering it to 50, but we've no timeline, we've no budget and more importantly we've no colonoscopy capacity to actually achieve that.

BowelScreen offers a free, at-home, bowel screening test for those aged 57 to 71, every two years.

Bowel screening aims to detect signs of bowel cancer at an early stage, where there are no symptoms.

Mr Donlon said that it is one of the most effective screening methods known to the medical community.

"It's the only screening programme where you can actually screen for and remove a cancer before it happens.

"There's already 6,700 people waiting for urgent colonoscopy referrals just last year. These are people with symptoms that need urgent action and they're waiting longer than their recommended four weeks."

He added that the death of Ms Mageean is a strong reminder that you can never be too fit or too young to be affected by bowel cancer.

Ms Mageean will be reposing at her parents' home in Portaferry today, before her funeral at St Patrick's Church, Ballyphilip Road, tomorrow.