Stephen Sutton's father supports new bowel cancer campaign

A campaign to tackle bowel cancer has been backed by a panel of medical experts as well as the father of Stephen Sutton, the fundraising teenager who died from the disease.

Bowel Cancer UK is calling for better diagnosis and treatment for people under the age of 50 who are at higher risk of developing the disease.

The initiative is focused on Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition which gives people a 72% higher risk of developing bowel cancer during their lifetime.

The initiative has been backed by Stephen's father Andy Sutton, who has been diagnosed with bowel cancer twice. It was only after the second diagnosis in 2009 that he was tested for Lynch syndrome.

Mr Sutton said he noticed his son was unwell when he was 15 and the teenager went to the doctor and the hospital on various occasions before he was diagnosed with cancer, even though the family told medical staff that his father had Lynch syndrome.