Dawson’s Creek heart-throb James Van Der Beek has told how he dismissed a tell-tale sign of his colon cancer because it ‘didn’t feel like a real symptom’.
The actor, who lives in Texas, revealed in November that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer in August 2023, aged just 46.
In a fresh interview this week, the now 48-year-old said a change in his bowel movements, a common sign of the condition, was the first indication something was amiss.
Yet, he blamed it on coffee and cut out the hot drink to resolve the issue by itself.
It was only when the symptom persisted that he got a colonoscopy. Test results soon revealed it was stage three cancer, meaning the disease had spread to his lymph nodes.
The disturbing rise of colorectal cancer—also known as colon or bowel cancer—in under 50s has baffled doctors around the globe.
The disease—which also claimed the life of Dame Deborah James at the age of 40—has surged by 50 per cent this age-group over the past three decades.
Now, James is calling on people to recognise the little-known signs of the cancer and not to give up if they think something isn’t right with their body.
He told Business Insider: ‘It didn’t feel like a real symptom of anything. It wasn’t anything that made me rush off to go get screened.’
Prior to his diagnosis, he was invested in maintaining peak health, he added.
‘I was doing everything, I was doing sauna, cold plunge, weightlifting, Pilates. I would dance and also do football training.’
He balanced strength training with cardio and ate mostly organic food, ‘doing all the biohacking things’ to stay fit, he added.
‘It [the diagnosis] really took a while to set in. The reality still sets in stages, there are so many unknowns.’
But raising awareness of the condition has given him a sense of purpose throughout his ongoing treatment.
‘I’ve learned a lot,’ he added. ‘If I can save anyone from having to go through this, that’s magic.’
There are around 44,000 cases of bowel cancer every year in the UK and 142,000 in the US, making it the fourth most common cancer in both countries.
Symptoms often include changes in bowel movements such as consistent and new diarrhoea or constipation, needing or feeling the need to poo more or less frequently and blood in the stool.
Stomach pain, a lump in the stomach, bloating, unexpected weight-loss and fatigue are among other signs.
Anyone experiencing these symptoms should contact their GP for advice.
Although the vast majority of bowel cancer diagnoses affect those aged over 50, rates in older age-groups has either declined or held stable while diagnoses in younger adults have risen by 50 per cent over the last 30 years.
Cancer Research UK estimates that over half (54 per cent) of bowel cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
Doctors have suggested obesity, antibiotic over-use, mobile phone radiation and even invisible particles of plastic in drinking water are potential triggers.
However a growing number of experts are also pointing ultra-processed foods as a cause.
Earlier this year James opened up again about his cancer journey as he marked his 48th birthday.
In a video posted on Instagram, he told his 1.6 million followers the last year, ‘has been the hardest of my life’.
Labeling the clip ‘What Cancer Taught Me,’ he described how coming ‘nose to nose with Death,’ had helped him redefine who he is.
‘When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never all that fulfilling, and then I became a husband and it was much better and then I became a father and that was the ultimate,’ he said.
Being away from his family for treatment and living alone in an apartment had forced him to ‘look my own mortality in the eye.’
‘All of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me,’ the dad of six also said.
