The 43-year-old feared he was about to poo himself on a Brighton Pride float alongside The Traitors star Diane Carson
For three years, Daniel Edwards had an explanation for his dodgy tummy – a late night, IBS or, as he joked, a “dodgy kebab”.
But when the 43-year-old’s symptoms became impossible to ignore, doctors discovered a 10cm tumour and diagnosed him with stage 3 bowel cancer. Now, the south Londoner is using drag, glittery toilet seats and an inflatable colon to make talking about poo and cancer less taboo.
Daniel Edwards, 43, from Tooting, and a director at Heathrow Airport, said he began having bouts of diarrhoea around once a month in 2021, putting them down to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a late night or a “dodgy kebab”. This continued for three years until he said it came to a head in August 2024, when he feared he would “poo himself” while DJing on a Brighton Pride float alongside Diane Carson from BBC show The Traitors.
Daniel went to his GP the following month after also becoming breathless and was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in October 2024.
According to the NHS, symptoms of bowel cancer can include changes in your poo, needing to poo more or less than usual, blood in the stool, tummy pain, bloating, losing weight without trying and feeling short of breath.
Daniel underwent immunotherapy before having surgery, and was told there was no viable cancer remaining in April 2025.
Determined to raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms in LGBTQ+ spaces, he launched Booty Call CIC in summer 2025.
Through this, he has hosted drag and club nights, quizzes and corporate events, raffling off celebrity-signed glittery toilet seats, as well as taking an enormous inflatable colon to Pride events for people to sing karaoke inside.
Daniel, who lives with his fiance, Harry, 32, told PA Real Life: “Having cancer made me realise time is a very finite thing, and we’ve only got one shot at this life. Now I’m the man making poo less taboo.”
In 2021, Daniel said he began having diarrhoea for two weeks every couple of months, but assumed it was “nothing to worry about” as he was still “functioning” day-to-day.
He added: “There was just always an explanation for my symptoms – I thought it was from a late night, a dodgy kebab, or IBS, I wasn’t ignoring it.”
Daniel said his “dodgy tummy” continued for around three years, until his symptoms came to a head at Brighton Pride in August 2024.
“I was DJing on a float during the parade, and one of my regular diarrhoea episodes started,” he explained. “I literally thought, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be the most embarrassing moment of my life. I’m going to poo myself on a float in Brighton with Diane from The Traitors near me’.”
By the beginning of September 2024, he also noticed he was becoming breathless. Daniel then went on holiday to Turkey, where he took a photo of himself and Harry on the plane, noticing “how unwell” he looked.
After returning home at the end of September, he had a series of tests, including a blood test, colonoscopy, CT scan and faecal immunochemical test, which detects blood in the stool.
Daniel was then told to come back in to see a colorectal surgeon, and to bring a loved one with him.
“I felt like the air had just been sucked out of me, I knew it was going to be something significant like cancer,” he said.
At the appointment on October 29 2024, Daniel was told he had stage 3 bowel cancer and a 10cm tumour in his bowel, which had grown and connected to his duodenum – a segment of the small intestine.
He said his doctor told him it was “too serious” to operate on at that stage.
Daniel said: “My world changed, my life changed on that day. I felt like I could feel the shift of the world on its axis. Nothing really felt real, and for a really long time, I don’t feel like it’s me that it happened to, or me that’s talking about it.”
Daniel went on to have immunotherapy from November 2024 to February 2025.
However, towards the end of his treatment, he said he developed pneumonitis – inflammation of the lungs – and was prescribed steroids, which caused steroid-induced psychosis and delusions.
“It sent me absolutely crazy, I was cleaning the house constantly,” he said.
“I had help from Macmillan and it really made a difference. They were amazing throughout.
“When I first saw someone in a green fleece in the room when I got the diagnosis, I was terrified, but ever since, it has meant something special to me – I knew I was safe and supported with them there.”
After recovering, Daniel went on to have surgery in March 2025, where 51 lymph nodes were removed, and two weeks later doctors told him the tumour had shrunk to 3.5cm.
In April 2025, he was told there was no cancer remaining.
“It felt like the most surreal moment ever,” he said.
“I remember being in floods of tears, and my support worker saying to me, ‘Dan, you were inoperable, and look at where you are now.'”
Ever since, Daniel has been under surveillance, having blood tests every three months, scans every six months and a colonoscopy every year – which will be the case for the next five years.
He said he can become “fixated” on what is “going on” with his body, sometimes “panicking” if he has another “dodgy tummy”.
Daniel added: “I spent a long time wanting my life to go back to normal, and I don’t think it ever will.
“I’m a very different person now.”
He said having cancer has put his life into perspective and made him “so appreciative of the time” he has with his loved ones.
Daniel decided he wanted to raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms, and in July 2025, he held a “queer club night”, Silly Bowel Disco.
“It was my way of putting my middle finger up to cancer – we did it in a camp and fabulous way,” he said.
“We had drag queens, symptoms to look out for on the back of toilet doors in glitter.”
Daniel said he even raffled off glittery toilet seats signed by celebrities such as comedian Tom Allen and Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud.
He said the event raised £4,300 for Macmillan and Outpatients, an LGBTQ+ cancer charity.
This “lit a fire” under Daniel, and he went on to launch Booty Call CIC, an LGBTQ+-led community interest company hosting events to raise awareness about bowel cancer.
He added: “Talking about our bums and poo can be hard and embarrassing for a lot of us, and I don’t think we talk enough about cancer in the LGBTQ+ community.”
Through Booty Call, Daniel has attended Pride events with humorous signs and holds “camp” drag nights, quiz nights and even corporate events.
He said: “We even have an inflatable colon, which people can stand in and do karaoke, I call it colonoke.”
On October 23 2026, Daniel is throwing The Booty Call Ball, a “camp throwback party”, featuring his toilet seat raffle, celebrity guests and DJs.
He added: “The Cheeky Girls are performing – you can’t have a party about bums and them not perform.
“The money raised will go back into reinforcing our message of getting cancer awareness into LGBTQ+ communities, getting people talking about their poo and their bum, and making that a normal part of the conversations that we have.”
Macmillan Cancer Support is also doing whatever it takes to help everyone with cancer get the best care the UK has to offer, whoever and wherever they are, in a way that works for them – on the phone, on WhatsApp, by email or online.
For support, visit: macmillan.org.uk
