Brother’s death helps save sister

Dec 8 2007 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

A NORTH woman who lost her brother to bowel cancer has paid tribute to a new screening service which saved her life.

Sheila Green was diagnosed with the disease two years after it took the life of her brother David at the age of 52.

The mother-of-one was sent a home-testing kit automatically after her 60th birthday and the results prompted doctors to carry out further tests.

She had cancerous polyps removed from her bowel and as it was caught early, she has been cancer free since.

She said: “The screening saved my life. I don’t think I would have gone otherwise.

“I was really shocked but so glad they caught it early after knowing what my brother went through.”

The retired machine operator from Jarrow, in South Tyneside, was one of thousands sent the home-testing kit under the bowel cancer screening programme which began in the North-East in March.

So far kits have been sent out automatically to anyone aged between 60 and 69 living in South Tyneside, Sunderland and Gateshead. County Durham and Darlington have also joined the scheme.

It is being rolled out across the region and Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside will be brought on board in the new year.

Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Colin Rees said the screening has been brought in to catch bowel cancer, the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK, after lung cancer.

He said: “Most people have nothing wrong. Only 2% of the people who return the kit will be called for an endoscopy. The other 98% can be reassured by it.

“The cancer we are picking up is at an early stage and so it is very treatable.”

He said that people were often experiencing symptoms such as changing bowel habits or bleeding from the back end but hadn’t gone to their GP.

To find out more visit www.cancer screening.nhs.uk/bowel.