Loose Women’s Charlene White opens up about her mother Dorrett’s death from bowel cancer

Charlene White opened up on Tuesday at the age of 47 about her mother Dorrett’s death from colon cancer.

The 42-year-old Loose Women presenter appeared on Lorraine to discuss her personal connection to the No Butts campaign, which promotes awareness of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.

Charlene revealed that she is now the same age as her mother was when she was diagnosed with cancer, and sadly she passed away four years later.

She said, “It feels weird to know I’m the same age as her when she found out.

“I was 16 and my younger brother was only three when she was diagnosed and she died before she turned 50.

And I’m in that sweet spot now from when she was diagnosed when she was 43, which I am now or will be this year, and she died when she was 47.

Part of the reason my mom didn’t go to that appointment was because she got caught up in parenting. If she went for that early blood test, it could have saved her life.”

Charlene stressed the importance of early diagnosis and urged people to “check before flushing.”

The No Butts campaign was created by Dame Deborah James to raise money for cancer research.

The health campaigner, who died of colon cancer in June 2022, aged just 40, launched the Bowelbabe Cancer Research Fund to raise money for research into personalized medicine for cancer patients just weeks before she passed away.

Her target was to raise £250,000, but the fund has surpassed that target by raising more than £11 million.

Deborah, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 at the age of 35, spent her final years campaigning to raise awareness of the condition.

The Loose Women presenter, 42, appeared on Lorraine to discuss her personal connection to the No Butts campaign, which promotes awareness of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, the UK’s second biggest cancer killer (on the photo with Dame Deborah James)

Dame Deborah James (pictured) died of colon cancer in June 2022. She was 40 years old at the time of her death

Her fund is set up to raise as much money as possible to help other cancer patients.

Charlene also joined the campaign last year and remembered how she often had to take her younger brother to school as a teenager because her mother was going to undergo chemotherapy and her father was going to work.

Speaking of Lorraine, she said: ‘People find it really bizarre when I say'[I had] a mother who was in hospital all the time i mean i did my homework sitting on the bed in greenwich hospital, [that] was normal to us and so we didn’t know any different.

“It was normal for me to have to take my brother to elementary school every morning before school because my mom was going to have chemo and my dad had to go to work, so that’s all we ever knew at that time in our lives.

“So I don’t know what it’s like to have a normal childhood when you’re in your late teens, early twenties, I don’t know.

Charlene revealed she is now the same age as her mother Dorrett was when she was diagnosed with cancer and sadly she passed away four years later

Her mother Dorrett (right) was diagnosed at age 42 and survived the diagnosis for four years before dying

“But what I do know is that I don’t want other families to have to go through that and lose a parent because they don’t notice the signs and don’t go to the doctor.”

Charlene urged people not to be embarrassed about going to the doctor with gut-related issues.

She said, “For whatever reason, some people are really embarrassed when they talk about their bowel movements. Talking about poop people are really embarrassed about it but the reality is everyone does it.

She said, “That’s where we really need to take responsibility for our own bodies. What’s wrong with making sure you check before flushing?

“Because that’s the only way you’ll know if something’s up. There’s no one else in that cubicle with you at the time…because the reality is if we don’t, we could end up losing our lives and none of us want that to happen prematurely, not at all.”

Charlene stressed the importance of early diagnosis and urged people to ‘check before flushing’

“Technology and science have evolved a lot in the last 20 years and the way they treat it and the drugs that are available weren’t available 20 years ago, and when my mom went to the doctor about it, and they’ve got it undiagnosed for a while, could that mean she could have been there longer?

“No one really knows, but the reality is you know your body, you’re in control of your body, you have to watch your body because so many different things can happen.”

Charlene concluded: ‘The reality is if you see these things happening and you don’t go to the doctor, your family could lose a mother, lose a father. And yes, people think you have to be older for that.’