Chadwick Boseman's wife explained 'sudden' colon cancer symptoms he suffered from

Chadwick Boseman's widow has opened up about her husband's 'sudden' health decline prior to his colon cancer diagnosis.

In a poignant new interview, Simone Ledward Boseman shared further details of the actor's battle with the deadly disease, which he chose to keep private.

The late Black Panther star passed away in August 2020, four years after he first received the devastating news.

After being diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016, Chadwick underwent various treatments - including surgeries and chemotherapy - while still managing to deliver impeccable performances in a range of films.

According to his wife Simone - a singer and musician who performs under the stage name 'sahn' - even she wasn't aware that her husband had began experiencing symptoms until after he had visited a doctor on two occasions.

"It all seemed to come about very suddenly," she told Today. "It was a matter of weeks that he started not feeling well."

Simone said both she and Chadwick were 'very confident' he would overcome his health troubles (Eric McCandless via Getty Images)

Commenting that colon cancer is 'really tricky that way', Simone added: "Because he was so young, he wasn’t even at the point where he would consider having a colonoscopy."

Colon cancer, or bowel cancer, is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK and can be found anywhere in the large bowel, which includes the colon and rectum.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, colon cancer is the world's third most common cancer.

The NHS explains that symptoms of this include changes in your pooing habits, blood in your poo (which may look red or black), bleeding from your bottom and often feeling like you need to poo even if you've just been to the toilet.

Other red flags to be wary of include tummy pain, a lump in your abdomen, bloating losing weight without trying and feeling very tired for no reason.

Simone said that despite the sinister nature of Chadwick's diagnosis, they were both 'very confident' that he would 'make it through'.

The actor, who passed away in 2020, began experiencing bowel cancer symptoms over a 'matter of weeks' before being diagnosed (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

"To us, it was going be a challenging moment, but something that he would come out on the other side of and be fine," she continued.

"And they would do a surgery, and he would do some chemo afterward, and he would be okay. And there wasn’t much talk at all of the possibility of him not being okay on the other side of that.

"There are a lot of moments where I look back on that time and wish that we had been able to find a way to talk about that."

For a fleeting moment, the couple believed things really might be alright, as Simone said that her late husband was briefly in remission in 2018, dubbing it a 'beautiful year'.

Tearing up, she added: "It’s harder to talk about the good times than it is the bad."

Tragically, Chadwick was later informed that his cancer had returned at the end of 2018 and this time, it had progressed to stage four.

Explaining why he kept his health woes a secret and why he continued to work, Simone said: "When so many eyes are on you, I think you want to keep things generally more private.

Chadwick continued working on a variety of film projects including Black Panther while receiving treatment (Instagram/@chadwickboseman)

"Chad was not a person that would have wanted to be treated any differently because people knew that he was sick. The work is what was keeping him moving, so he didn’t want the work to suffer just because he was sick.

"He didn’t want to be handled with kid gloves because people thought he wasn’t going to be able to do his job and slide underneath falling cabinets and run across fields."

Admirably, Chadwick still shot films such as Black Panther, 21 Bridges, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Marshall, and Da 5 Bloods during this taxing period of his life.

He also made time to pop the question to Simone, who he first began dating in 2018, before they got married in an intimate ceremony in 2020.

Discussing her grief, Simone added: "The edges get less sharp, I think, is the best way to put it. There are still edges and there are still a lot of painful moments.

"But I think it becomes easier to find the love in those moments, as well. You become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief. But it doesn’t go away."

She wants people to remember her husband for the 'way that he lived', adding: "The fact that he wouldn’t let cancer get in the way of what he was here to do, let that be the lesson."