A freelance photographer who was diagnosed with cancer in September is spearheading a national supermarket’s health awareness campaign.

Bob Bowen, 69, has been a freelance photographer in Somerset for more than 25 years, regularly taking pictures for a number of south west regional and local newspapers such as the Bristol Evening Post, Western Daily Press, the Cheddar Valley Gazette and the Clevedon Mercury.

He was diagnosed with bowel cancer in September after a routine screening and is now fronting a new £10million link between Tesco and Cancer Research UK.

The partnership will see Tesco running a series of in-store promotions to raise health awareness, and stress the importance of early cancer detection to boost survival chances.

Said Bob: “This all came out of the blue, because I hadn’t experienced any of the symptoms normally associated with bowel cancer. I felt completely well and hadn’t lost any weight or noticed bleeding.

“Although it’s always a shock to receive news like this, I’m feeling positive because I know the problem has been caught at the early stages.

“Without the routine screening test, the situation could be a lot nastier because this type of cancer can spread rapidly. This all illustrates the importance of early diagnosis.”

His involvement with the campaign came about as a result of Cancer Research UK and Tesco looking for someone in the area to front its campaign.

They asked Bob to do the pictures for a photo shoot and asked him to represent the campaign when they found out he was a sufferer.