Cancer survivor wants you to take a life-saving test
On the tenth anniversary of the introduction of bowel screening in England, a Shoreham bowel cancer survivor is urging fellow residents to complete the test he says saved his life. As part of the screening programme test kits are posted automatically to all UK residents registered with a GP once they reach the age of 60. In December 2013, Peter Jones, 74, of Elizabeth Road, had a ‘gut feeling’ that something was not quite right. He had minor pains in tummy and appendix area, loose and multiple poos, tiredness, dozing off; all symptoms he remembered reading about previously. His screening kit arrived in the post that same month and he completed and sent it off immediately. He was given a colonoscopy within three weeks which confirmed that he had bowel cancer. Peter then underwent keyhole surgery four weeks after that, where not only his tumour but also his appendix was removed. He was very relieved to find that he didn’t require a stoma and that he was and still is clear ...