Plaid Cymru AM Steffan Lewis opens up on cancer

An AM diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer says the emotional impact of the disease should be talked about more.

Plaid Cymru's Steffan Lewis, who is 33 and has a two-year-old son, says he has learned it is "OK to be frightened".

In Mr Lewis's first interview since being diagnosed the AM, who is beginning 12-weeks of chemotherapy, said he has a "mountain ahead" of him.

But he said he is in the "best hands medically" and has a "fantastic support network".

"There is something that I cling onto," he said, "which is we've got a beautiful two-and-a-half-year-old boy and I want to see him grow into a beautiful adult.

"And when I get the tough times that's what I think about, and he just lights up my days, keeps me going and that's something that's a really good motivator."

• 'Devastating' cancer news for Plaid AM

• Steffan Lewis: Profile

Mr Lewis did not have any symptoms until he felt sharp pains in his stomach in November.

He was diagnosed the following month and was told it had spread to his liver.

The AM spent Christmas in the Royal Gwent hospital in Newport, where he had the bowel tumour removed.

After delays because of infections, he is now beginning a course of chemotherapy at Velindre cancer centre in Cardiff.

Steffan Lewis was diagnosed with cancer last November

Speaking to BBC One's Wales Live programme, Mr Lewis said the emotional element of how cancer affects young people is "something we don't talk about".

"I appreciate the fact there are 2000-odd people in Wales with bowel cancer every year and about 5% of those are younger people, so numerically we are small," he said.

"But still I think we need to talk about the emotional palette that we have when we are going through something as profound and as frightening as cancer.

"It's almost like validating our own emotions and our own feelings - that it's okay to be a young man and to be scared and to allow yourself to explore that, to rationalise it and to talk about it openly.

"I have been very keen to talk about it candidly because the emotional rollercoaster that you go through matches anything medical that you go through."

Steffan Lewis with his family when he was sworn into the assembly in 2016

Mr Lewis said: "There is a big emphasis rightly put on positivity when you are faced with cancer in particular and that's absolutely right and I'm positive generally."

"But there's nothing negative about allowing yourself to explore and even indulge other emotions, and one of the things I've learned actually in the last couple of months is that it is OK to be frightened."

Mr Lewis described how the disease "struck at his dignity" for the first time when he was lying in bed in hospital shortly after his bowel operation, which has implications for bowel movement control.

"I remember the nurse leaving - they call them pads but they are effectively adult nappies - on my bedside cabinet in the hospital ward," he said.

"She went out of the room and I just remember lying there and I burst into tears."

'Love and solidarity'

When Mr Lewis was elected as Plaid AM for South Wales East in 2016, he became the youngest assembly member at 32.

The AM, who previously worked as an adviser to party leader Leanne Wood, soon became Plaid's Brexit spokesman.

He said his experience with the disease had confirmed his belief that it is possible to win in politics "without having to bludgeon your opponents".

"I still think if you can win an argument and inspire people and actually talk very little about your opponents, I think you can win."

He said the "love and solidarity" shown to him by members of all parties has been "phenomenal".

It had shown, he said, that: "Actually, politics aside, we are human beings who care for one another and when the chips are down we can be there for one another and be tidy to each other".

Wales Live, BBC One Wales, 1030 GMT