A FATHER who survived cancer has published a memoir of his experiences - and he hopes that others with similar symptoms will act sooner.

Steven Eastcott was born in Birchgrove, Cardiff but works in Penarth. At the age of 60, he was told he had stage two bowel cancer.

Three years on, he is publishing a memoir which details his recovery.

“In July 2017, I had a colonoscopy camera,” Steve said.

“I was looking at the screen and something appeared, and I immediately thought, ‘that looks really awful’.

“They took me into the office and sat me down and told me straight off that I had cancer.

“In my head, I thought: ‘Is this real?’

“From then on, I felt like I was behind a glass pane and couldn’t quite hear anything properly.”

Steven, who runs a security company, has written a series of supernatural thrillers. When he was diagnosed, he utilised his passion for writing to document his experiences and those of his wife and daughter, Shan and Samantha.

“There was one moment when I looked at myself in the mirror and cried. I thought, ‘I’m not going to be with my family.

“I felt dead – like I was looking down at them and I was still conscious, but they couldn’t see me.

“Writing focused my emotions. Now it’s like a memory record,” Steven said.

The title of his memoir, It’s All In The Bag, represents his fear of a colostomy bag. “Everything revolved around the question of whether I would have to use a colostomy bag and whether my life would ever be the same.”

Steven received the all-clear in June 2018 - 11 months after being diagnosed. Now, he hopes to encourage others who may be experiencing symptoms of cancer to seek help sooner.

“I want people to know – look, you can avoid this. If you get tested, you can find it earlier and something can be done. It’s not just for you – it’s your family. Cancer affects everyone, not just the patient.”

Steven’s memoir will be available to download on Kindle for £1.99 after Friday or in print on Amazon for £6.99.