Anne Molan and her husband, retired army officer Jim Molan, tuned into the show at their Royalla home with a mix of apprehension and dread knowing they were about to relive one of the most traumatic periods of their life when their eldest child was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer.

"This is every parent's worst nightmare," she said.

Mrs Molan has spoken about Sarah's diagnosis in a bid to encourage more people to be aware of the common symptoms of the disease - and to have them checked out promptly - but also to praise the Canberra area medicos who helped to save her daughter's life.

"The support that the Canberra community gave us to support Sarah was phenomenal and we couldn't have done it without them," she said.

Sarah, 33, a college teacher in Nyah in northern Victoria, is now cancer-free but lives with the regime of six-monthly and annual checks.

It was in the weeks after she gave birth to her son, Angus, now 4, that she felt uneasy about the amount of weight she was losing and the fact she was suffering so much diarrhoea.

She was eventually diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer at the age of just 29 – the polar opposite of the stereotypical bowel cancer sufferer being an old man.

At the time, Sarah had come home for Christmas and blood had started appearing in her diarrhea.

Her mother encouraged her to see her local GP, Dr Ross Hendry, of Queanbeyan, who took blood tests and referred her to Deakin gastroenterologist Dr Graham Magarry, who diagnosed her with the genetic condition, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a condition that starts benign but can develop into cancer.

The family thought, at worst, Sarah might have coeliac disease.

"Never, ever did we think it was cancer," Mrs Molan said.

Sarah was with her father, a retired major general who played a major role in the coalition forces in Iraq, when the diagnosis was made after a colonoscopy at Calvary Hospital, something that shook them all to the core.

"Magarry said, 'We need to go and have a talk' and took them into a room and it was then Jim thought, 'We're in trouble'," Mrs Molan said.

With two young children – her daughter, Sophie, was four at the time, and newborn Angus – Sarah sought further treatment closer to home and was eventually treated by Melbourne surgeon, Professor Ian Jones, who found her condition had become cancerous.

Sarah had her bowel removed and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The whole family, including other siblings Felicity and Michael, rallied to support her.

She is now back at work as well as raising Sophie, 8, and Angus, 4, with husband Gavin.

Mrs Molan said she hoped all the publicity around her daughter's condition, including The Footy Show interview, would encourage people to be more conscious of symptoms and have them checked out.

"We understand if Sarah's condition had been diagnosed earlier it would have never become cancer," she said.

In the case of FAP, once the condition is diagnosed, the bowel can be removed and a new bowel fashioned from the small intestine before the cancer strikes.

While it was painful to watch their two daughters so emotional during The Footy Show interview, Mrs Molan said if it saved even one person from bowel cancer, it was worth it.

"Jim and I were confident watching the story that there would be at least a couple of families somewhere in Australia who would not have to endure that we endured," she said.

"From that perspective, it was somewhat gratifying to watch it. Erin has received an email from Professor Jones and he states that the story will save lives."