“Getting a sample of poo? This is not a pleasant thing to do. I kept saying to myself ‘I will do it tomorrow’.”
So said Sekyi Armah-Tetteh, who was among the hundreds of thousands of people in south-east London who were sent bowel cancer screening kits to use at home.
To use the kits, you collect a small stool sample with a stick and put it in a small tube, before sending it to a lab for tests.
The testing used to be only open for people aged 60 and over. Now the NHS in south-east London has expanded the range to 58 and over – meaning 100,000 more people are eligible. Once you reach the right age, you get sent one every two years until you are 74.
The NHS plans to send the kit, called a Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), to everyone over 50 by 2025.
Sekyi said: “I was sent a bowel cancer screening kit when I had just turned 60. When the box came, I opened it with hesitation…
“Then I got a reminder, and I thought I should be brave. If anything is wrong, it is better to arrest it before it gets worse.
“I sent the kit back and I got the all clear like most people. If I had known that at the time, I would have done it straightaway.
“If you get a bowel cancer screening kit, please use it straightaway. It isn’t anything scary.”
The test can detect blood, which could be a sign of bowel cancer even in people with no symptoms – and determines if you are among the two per cent of people who need more tests.
In the UK, 43,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, and over 16,500 people die from it – more than 45 a day. But it can be easier to treat if doctors find it early.
The new NHS campaign – “Your next poo could save your life” – is particularly focusing on those who are less likely to do the test: men, people sent the bowel screening kit for the first time, people in deprived areas, people from some ethnic and faith communities, and people with a learning disability.