Former Strictly Come Dancing star Iwan Thomas has opened up on a horrific cancer scare he faced after abnormalities and bowel growths were discovered in the midst of a routine screening. Iwan, who appeared on the BBC show in 2015, told his followers that he needed to have a procedure after the results came in, though he originally ignored the letter for the screening. The Olympian told his followers about the incident on Instagram as he admitted he was sent a letter for a bowel screening test from the NHS but had ignored it.

He said: "Luckily for me, they wrote back and they said, 'do the test, do it', so I did it, sent it off and within days they've got me in because there's some abnormalities. Something's not right." He then explained that he had a colonoscopy, and during that procedure they found three growths."

He explained that one of the growths was quite big and "didn't look great", so it was sent off for a biopsy and he explained he just received the results. He was told that he had been "lucky" for coming in when he did and warned that things could have been "very different".

The growth had started to show signs of becoming cancerous, but they have managed to get rid of it, adding: "Fingers crossed, that's the end of it."

He then encouraged his followers to get checked as he added: "When it comes to our health, it's very easy to bury our heads in the sand and ignore symptoms because we are scared. It's ok to be scared and sometimes we may hear things we don't want to hear, but take it from me if something doesn't seem right, get it checked out."

He ended the post by praising the NHS and said he was so glad he went through it when he did because any longer could have been "a very different outcome". Iwan added: "A huge shout out to our wonderful NHS. Take care everybody. TAKE THE TEST. Much love."

Iwan was immediately praised for his honest post as one user wrote: "Glad you're okay man and well done, very important message to get out." While another wrote: "So sorry you've been going through this. Brave for you to share. I'm sure you will help lots of people. Sending lots of love."

Another wrote: "We just can't take chances with our health. Our instincts are powerful and sometimes we ignore it. Here's hoping you've got the all clear my friend. Look after yourself."