Dean Gaffney thinks the 'I'm A Celebrity...' medical team saved his life.
Dean Gaffney had a bowel cancer scare
The former 'EastEnders' star underwent medical tests ahead of a possible appearance in 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' series in 2020, and doctors found polyps in his large intestine and sent him for an operation, and he's thankful they were spotted when they were as he was told they could have led to bowel cancer.
He told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “There is no doubt I’m A Celeb and its medical team saved my life. I might not be here today if it wasn’t for them finding what they did...
“I’m A Celebrity staff told me in September I’d got the job and I was called to a medical in October. I thought nothing of it and did the routine blood tests. When it came back, it showed I was losing blood.
“I was losing blood somewhere, I just felt maybe it’s low iron or something because I don’t take vitamins. While they waited for further tests, they put a camera down my throat. It’s like a pill with a camera attached, so when you swallow the pill you have a belt around your belly that can create something like 24,000 images a second. So it creates a film while this pill is going through your intestines. They then gave me a colonoscopy.
“Later that day the results showed they had found polyps which were massive. One was huge. I think 20mm, which is big for a polyp."
Dean underwent surgery "within hours".
He added: “Within hours I was in a hospital gown and under general anaesthetic and they took it out.”
When he came round, doctors told him: “Had you not come to us today, in three years that could have turned to bowel cancer. You’ve been very lucky.
“I still remember his exact words. I feel so, so lucky. It’s made me so careful about checking my stools.”
The 45-year-old actor isn't "scared" of death and thinks there is someone looking out for him.
He said: “I feel there’s someone looking over me because when I have low points something comes good for me. It’s like a roller-coaster. I get to the bottom, and think, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to crash’ – and then somehow I get back up again.
“It’s similar to 'EastEnders'. I lost my job and then, bang! Jobs come in.
“I’m very blessed because there’s someone looking over me saying, ‘Don’t worry’. Sometimes I do feel like a cat and my nine lives are running out. I’m lucky to be here.
“Death does scare me. I’m not one of these people who think you go to a lovely place and it’s fine.”
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