16: The Getting Real with Hilary Show with Hilary Burns - Episode 1616: The Getting Real with Hilary Show with Hilary Burns - Episode 16
UK Health Radio Podcast
Hilary Burns talks with rectal cancer survivor Marissa Peters about missed warning signs, colonoscopy screening and the preventable nature of many colorectal cancers. They discuss symptoms, family history, and the Be Seen movement’s push for earlier detection and self-advocacy.
43:49•15 Aug 2026
Poop, Polyps and Being Seen: Marissa Peters on Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer
Episode Overview
- Colorectal cancer is described as preventable because colonoscopies can detect and remove precancerous polyps before they become cancer.
- Key warning signs mentioned include blood in stool, changes in stool size or shape, increased urgency, abdominal pain and severe anaemia.
- Family history of polyps or colorectal cancer may bring screening ages forward, often to 40 or ten years earlier than the relative’s age at diagnosis or first polyp.
- Stool and blood tests are presented as useful starting tools, but they are meant to lead to a colonoscopy rather than replace it.
- Patients are urged to advocate for themselves, insist on further testing when symptoms persist, and ensure biopsy results from polyps are obtained and understood.
“Early detection, it saves lives and it works.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? On this occasion, the focus shifts to another life-or-death health topic: poop, polyps, and colorectal cancer. The Getting Real with Hilary Show brings on Marissa Peters, a young-onset stage 3b rectal cancer survivor, to break the silence on a subject most people would rather avoid.
Marissa, an author, performer and founder of the Be Seen movement, talks through how years of symptoms – including blood in her stool, changes in bowel habits, urgency, and exhaustion from severe anaemia – were repeatedly brushed off as “just haemorrhoids” or gut issues. It wasn’t until she reached a gastroenterologist that, as she puts it, the specialist “was floored and knew how dire the situation was.” The conversation stays practical and straight-talking.
You’ll hear clear explanations of why colorectal cancer is showing up more often in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, why it’s still classed as a preventable disease, and how colonoscopies both detect and remove precancerous polyps on the spot. Marissa stresses the importance of knowing family history, following up biopsy results, and understanding that a positive stool or blood test is meant to lead you to a colonoscopy, not replace it.
Hilary and Marissa also walk through how insurance rules, screening ages, and family risk can affect when children should start getting checked – often 10 years earlier than their parent’s age at diagnosis or first polyp.
Throughout, Marissa keeps circling back to one message: “early detection, it saves lives and it works.” If you’ve ever shrugged off strange toilet habits, or know someone who has, this conversation might be the nudge to start asking questions about your own body and family history. Who in your life needs you to be the one who finally says, “let’s talk about this – and let’s get you seen”?
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