Bowel cancer survivor’s stoma struggle laid bare after charity challenge
LONDON — Adele Roberts spent an entire night holding her own intestine in place. The I’m a Celebrity star, now 45, posted the admission on Instagram after a fitness fundraiser for Cancer Research UK. Her stoma, which she calls Audrey, had prolapsed again.
“Tummy is sore,” she wrote, “but at least my stoma is staying in my body for now.” The prolapse happened during a bowel prep and colonoscopy. The pressure forced her intestine out through her stomach wall.
It was not the first time. Roberts has been open about complications since her stoma was fitted in 2022. Her cancer fight started earlier.
In 2021, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She had first noticed symptoms while filming the ITV jungle reality show.
Chemotherapy followed. Then surgeons removed the tumour. The stoma bag became a permanent part of her life.
Last November, she had a “concerning lump” cut from her neck. She told fans about that too. Roberts is not hiding.
She uses Instagram to show the raw side of survival. The prolapse story is the latest example.
It is blunt. It is physical. It is not the polished version of cancer recovery that charities sometimes serve up.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK. Around 43,000 people are diagnosed each year.
Survival rates have improved, but the disease still kills 16,500 people annually. Stomas are common after surgery. So are prolapses.
The condition happens when part of the intestine pushes through the stoma opening. It can be painful. It can be frightening.
It can mean hours of holding yourself together. Roberts chose to share that.
She did it right after completing a fitness challenge for research funding. The contrast is stark. One day she is raising money.
The next she is awake all night, hand pressed to her stomach, keeping her own insides inside. That is the reality she wants people to see.
The presenter has become an accidental campaigner. She did not set out to be one. She went on I’m a Celebrity, got sick, got diagnosed, got treated.
Now she posts about stoma bags and prolapses and sore tummies. Other people with bowel cancer see it. They comment.
They share their own stories. The trend underneath all of this is resilience.
Roberts keeps going. She keeps talking. She keeps fundraising.
Her body keeps throwing new problems at her. She keeps showing up online to describe them.
Her stoma prolapsed before. It will probably happen again. She knows that.
She said so. But she also said her stoma was staying in her body “for now.” That is the line she chose to end on. Not a complaint.
Not a cry for sympathy. Just a fact, delivered flatly, with a sore stomach and a long night behind her.
Bowel cancer awareness has been rising in recent years. Campaigners push for earlier screening. They push for people to talk about symptoms that once felt taboo.
Roberts is part of that shift. She talks about intestines and stomas and colonoscopies.
She makes the unglamorous parts of cancer visible. That visibility matters. People die because they are embarrassed to talk about bowel changes.
Roberts removes that excuse. She has already been through chemo. She has already had a tumour cut out.
She has already had a lump removed from her neck. Now she is holding her intestine in at 3 a.m. and telling the internet about it.
Her story is not finished. She will keep updating. The audience will keep watching.
And the conversation about bowel cancer will keep getting louder, one Instagram post at a time.
