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A grandfather told how, being unable to throw his excrement into the toilet, the doctors discovered his pancreatic cancer.
Chris Davey, 59, of Bristol, was not too concerned about his floating stools, but he took note of it to inform his GP at his next review.
The roofer also suffered from itchy feet and hands and yellowing around the eyes, which he also decided to report to his doctor in April 2016.
Her fast general practitioner immediately recognized the symptoms as a sign of pancreatic cancer – one of the most lethal forms.
Mr. Davey was diagnosed with the disease two weeks later.
He needed an eight-hour operation to "replenish" his bowels to rid him of cancer, before months of chemotherapy delayed him.
Mr. Davey survived his diagnosis only because he was spotted so early, which allowed him to have surgery, the only way to "cure" the disease.
Chris Davey, 59, from Bristol, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2016 when his stool did not stain and his hands and feet itched. It was just three months before the wedding of her daughter, Lisa Ball, 34 years old (photo)
Davey, pictured this year, describes himself as a "lucky man," having met a "surprise" grandson two years after his life-saving operation. He said: "If things had happened differently, I would have missed so much, including meeting my 6th grandson, Regan" (middle photo), left, Riley, age eight, and on the right, Freddie, 10 years old)
He told MailOnline: "I consider myself a really lucky man. I had always been a good guy. I had never smoked or drank a lot and I was in my sport. It was all a shock.
"It started with terribly irritating feet and hands. You would not believe it. It was off scale and as a torture.
"My stools had completely changed. They did not blush and there was an unusual smell. Not necessarily bad, just different.
"I usually felt a little indisposed and slow. I was still working very hard and carrying a lot of weight.
"I went to the doctor with a list of symptoms. I found it very amusing, in fact, that all these strange things happen to me.
Floating light-colored stools are also a sign of jaundice, causing Mr. Davey's irritated skin and yellow eyes.
Jaundice occurs when bilirubin, a component of bile made in the liver, accumulates in the blood.
The bile runs through the bile duct to the pancreas, but if the bile duct is clogged, the fats can not be broken down in the body because the enzymes that digest the fatty substances are not released.
Therefore, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK, stools can become greasy and float in the toilet, which means they are more difficult to hunt.
Pancreatic cancer affects 9,100 people in the United Kingdom each year and an estimated 56,770 in the United States.
A quarter of patients with the disease die in the month following diagnosis and three quarters in one year.
Three years after the end of his treatment, Davey raises awareness about the deadly disease – for which there is no screening test.
Recalling his checkup at his GP, he said, "She said," It's really nice that you have noticed that. But I do not like his appearance. "
After some medical examinations, including an MRI, Mr. Davey – who has six grandchildren – received the results.
He said: "My doctor phoned me while I was still at work and she told me that I had a tumor. It's a little blurry. It was a shock for the family. Rachael, my wife, was devastated.
Four days after Mr. Davey's wedding, he underwent a surgery that saved his life to remove the tumor. On the photo with his wife, Rachael, at the wedding in 2016
Mr. Davey, photographed in his hometown of Bristol, said, "One of the nurses told me," You do not realize how lucky you are, my friend. "It really held me in the head, especially when I found out how bad the statistics about pancreatic cancer were"
Davey said that after learning that the disease was detected early, a nurse told him, "You do not realize how lucky you are, my friend."
"It really stayed in my mind, especially when I found out how bad the statistics about pancreatic cancer were," he added.
Surgery is the only treatment for pancreatic cancer, but less than 10 percent of patients can be operated on.
Indeed, by the time they have been diagnosed, it is too late and their cancer has spread.
Barely four days before his surgery, on June 1, 2016, Mr. Davey was able to attend the wedding of his daughter, Lisa Ball, 34 years old.
He said, "At my daughter's wedding, I did not want everything in me. I did not want everyone to look at the sand saying, "Oh, your poor father."
"I tanned in the garden so as not to look sick. And it worked. People were shocked because they were aware of the diagnosis.
Whipple's operation removes the tumor and the head of the pancreas to prevent cancer from spreading to other organs.
Because of the way blood vessels are shared, surgeons must also remove part of the bile ducts, gall bladder, small intestine and stomach before reconnecting what remains to allow normal digestion of food and body functions.
Mr. Davey was determined to stay positive, even though he never read anything online that scared him. He now raises funds for charities. In the photo, make a jump of charity
Mr. Davey had prepared for the operation by stepping up his training program, doing 100 pushups a day because his doctors had advised him to stay active.
Therefore, the day after his intensive care operation, a physio who came to see Mr. Davey was shocked by his ability to get up and walk on the spot with ease.
Davey, who spent a week at the hospital recovering, said, "The doctors said, 'I've never seen anything like it since a Whipple operation.'"
When Mr. Davey was allowed to go home, the first thing he did was buy a Fitbit to continue to strengthen his forces. Ten weeks later, he was back at work.
He said: "I worked on my physical condition one step at a time, taking care to follow my doctor's advice of listening to my body and slowing it down.
"After the operation, I underwent 18 cycles of chemotherapy. Whenever I went there, I counted how much I had left because we could only do them one after the other.
"You have to go through each step as you go, that's the only way I've managed to manage it."
Mr. Davey was determined to stay positive, even though he never read anything online that scared him.
He said, "We have never really heard about pancreatic cancer. The more information we have, the more things got worse and I was depressed.
"The worst thing is the department of oncology of the hospital where you see other people angry.
"I've seen women crying with the idea of losing their hair, and the kids are the worst, that really pulls on your heart. I wanted my story to be positive and optimistic.
Davey, who is regularly monitored for signs of recurrence of his cancer, presents himself as a "lucky man" after meeting a "surprise" grandchild.
He said: "If things had gone differently, I would have missed so much, including meeting my sixth grandson, Regan."
Chris Macdonald, head of research at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: "Unfortunately, cases like Chris's are rare.
"Every year, thousands of people learn catastrophically that their pancreatic cancer has been diagnosed too late to be able to undergo surgery – their only treatment possible.
"It's urgent to equip doctors with a simple test, but it's a huge challenge."
Pancreatic Cancer UK launches the new "Unite-Diagnose-Save-Lives" campaign to help fund the first-ever simple test for pancreatic cancer by 2024, for which you can get involved here.
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