When Banjup local Christine (Chris) turned 50, her bowel cancer screening kit arrived in the mail. To encourage her husband to do his kit that had also arrived, she suggested they both do the test at the same time. Chris didn't expect anything to come of it - she was fit, healthy and had no family history or symptoms of bowel cancer. However, three days later, she received a positive result and a letter to make an appointment with her doctor. This was very unexpected for Chris, who says "it's the last thing that you think of".
From there, Chris had a colonoscopy scheduled, and cancerous polyps were found and removed. The doctor confirmed that cancer cells had not spread through the bowel lining, so there was no need for additional surgery.
Bowel cancer is one of the most treatable cancers, with more than 90% of cases successfully treated if found early. Christine shares the message that "if you can catch anything early enough, you've got a better chance of dealing with it, and not have it progress into something more nasty". She adds "you just never know what's going on inside".
We know that the risk for developing bowel cancer increases with age, with the largest number of cases occurring in people over 45.
Australians are eligible to do the free screening test every two years if they:
- are aged between 45 and 74
- have a Medicare card and entitlement type of either Australian citizen, permanent migrant or register as a Department of Veteran Affairs customer
- have an Australian mailing address
The bowel cancer screening test is a free, simple test that is done at home. It looks for invisible traces of blood in poo, which could be a sign of cancer or a pre-cancerous growth. People aged 50 to 74 will automatically receive a kit in the mail every two years. People aged 45-49 can now join the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program by requesting their first free kit here.
If you have misplaced or lost your kit you can order a replacement kit here
