Scots dad's stitch after Celtic game turned out to be bowel cancer

A dad has told how a stitch in his side that started after a Celtic game turned out to be bowel cancer.Graeme McCabe, 53, began suffering from the sharp pain whilst out with his pals after watching the Hoops in Glasgow in October 2023.The former ScotRail train driver, from Cumbernauld, was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer just weeks later after he was sent to hospital to test for suspected gallstones.Graeme told the Record: “I was out in the pub with my mates after the Celtic game.“I’ve run a lot of marathons before and suffered plenty of stitches in the past.

This felt really similar. I just put it down to not being as fit as I used to be.“But this stitch just wouldn’t go away. I spoke to my wife, Karen, and decided to go and get it checked at the doctors.“It was a nurse practitioner who saw me.

I’ll be forever grateful to her.“She gave me a piece of paper and sent me straight to Monklands Hospital. She thought it was gallstones but said I needed to get an ultrasound, which flagged lesions on my liver.“I then got a CT scan and the consultant said they had found a 'nasty' shadow in my bowel.

They never said right away it was the big ‘C’, but I knew it was serious.”As well as cancer, Graeme, who has two sons, Aiden, 15 ,and Matthew, 17, is tackling a daily battle against a heart condition, atrial fibrillation, which causes irregular heart beats.The condition forced him to quit his job as a train driver and he now works as a cleaner for ScotRail.He said: “The two conditions are like a perfect storm.“I’ve found that some days I’m unable to walk the length of my driveway.“I used to be really fit.