I felt like I was in the shape of my life... I didn't expect to be told I had cancer

DANCING ON ICE STAR ADELE ROBERTS TELLS HANNAH STEPHENSON HOW HER ILLNESS HAS MADE HER A BETTER PERSON

DJ, Dancing On Ice star and marathon runner, Adele Roberts, calls her stoma 'Audrey, branding her a 'cheeky monkey' when she misbehaves.

"Audrey is my little friend," Adele says playfully of the stoma. "She always seems to play up and humbles me in public. But she's been my little buddy all the way through it."

It's a light-hearted take on a serious issue. Audrey has been around for more than two years since Adele, 45, was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer and had a tumour removed, leaving her with the stoma.

Adele has gone on to become a campaigner for bowel cancer awareness, and last year joined the Guinness World Record books when she became the fastest runner with a stoma bag in the London Marathon. She completed it in three hours, 30 minutes and 22 seconds a personal best and faster than she ran the course twice, pre-cancer.

Today, the shaven-headed former Radio 1 DJ says she is still recovering from chemotherapy that left her with agonising pain in her hands and feet. Her skin peeled off, she lost her fingerprints and everything she ate tasted metallic.

Adele has remained positive, but admits there were moments of despair.

"There were some nights when I'd just lie there and cry because it hurt so much. It robbed me of so much, just like the pleasure of tasting your favourite food, everything tasted like metal. My tongue got black dots on it. It changed my skin, my face, I was bloated."

Not being able to control what happened to her body, she focused on her mind and soul, listening to music and getting to the end of each day with her girlfriend, actor Kate Holderness, focusing on the positive.

"Even though it was hurting, I was always moving forward," says Adele. "You have to take it day-by-day, break it down, concentrate on what's in front of you. I think having cancer made me very present."