Matthew Wright backs Sun campaign to start bowel cancer screening at 50 NOT 60 – after losing dad to the disease
HE'S not one to shy away from difficult subjects.
As the face of The Wright Stuff, Matthew Wright, has stirred debate and challenged popular thinking for almost two decades.
And that knack for making you think doesn't stop when the cameras stop rolling.
The outspoken 52-year-old is an avid campaigner, raising awareness of a cancer that no one likes to talk about - "because it's all about bums and poo", he points out.
Matthew lost his dad and granddad to bowel cancer.
That's why he's backing The Sun's No Time 2 Lose campaign, calling for bowel cancer screening to start at the age of 50 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, not 60 as is the currently the case.
Bowel cancer is the 2nd deadliest form of the disease, but it can be cured IF it's caught early enough.
Catch it at stage 1 - in its earliest stages - and a person has a 97 per cent chance of living five years or more.
But leave it undetected until stage 4 - when it has already spread - and that chance plummets to just seven per cent.
Lowering the screening age to 50 could save more than 4,500 lives a year. And it could save the NHS millions, eradicating the need for expensive cancer treatments that can cost up to £25,000 a patient.
"I am 52 and I don't consider myself to be old," Matthew told The Sun. "It's no age to die."
His granddad, Jimmy, a Desert Rat in the Second World War, was 68 when he died after being diagnosed with the disease in his 20s.
Dad Jonathan Wright was just 53 years old when he passed away 1997 - having been diagnosed at 51.
"He had been having problems down below but rarely talked about it," Matthew recalled.
When he did finally go and see his GP, Jonathan's symptoms were put down to indigestion, then IBS when he returned still suffering.
Matthew, who announced last month he's quitting The Wright Stuff, said: "He was told to buy himself a packet of peppermints and suck on those.
"Understandably he didn't rush back.
"When he did go back again, he was very reticent to talk about it.
"His doctor didn't seem to listen when he told him his dad had died of bowel cancer."
After visiting a second GP, Jonathan was referred to a specialist.
Tests revealed he had a tumour the size of a grapefruit that had been growing in his bowel for around six months, doctors estimated.
His cancer was classed as stage 4 - indicating it had already spread, to his liver.
This campaign is so important, it’s time for the Government to act...The Sun’s campaign is vital, raising awareness of this disease on a national level
Matthew Wright
Diagnosed at this point, people have just a seven per cent chance of surviving five years or more.
Within just 19 months, Matthew's dad had passed away.
The sad reality is that had his dad's cancer been caught earlier, he would have had a much better chance of surviving.
Caught at stage 1 people with the disease have a 97 per cent chance of living five years or longer.
That's why early diagnosis is so important, Matthew said.
And why he's passionate about shouting about the disease from the rooftops, to ensure other families don't have to face what his has.
Like his dad before him, Jonathan had part of his bowel removed and was left needing a colostomy bag something he "found very hard to deal with".
From there, he went into a steady decline, undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy before a "difficult death".
Nineteen months after his diagnosis, at the age of just 53, Matthew's dad passed away.
"The day he died was one of the happiest of my life," Matthew told The Sun. "His nightmare was over, and he was no longer suffering.
";My dad thought he would beat it, right down to the end."
In the aftermath of his dad's death, Matthew said anger consumed him for some time.
Anger directed at the doctors who failed to pick up on the disease sooner.
SCREENING FROM 50 IS A NO BRAINER - IT COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES
THE Sun's No Time 2 Lose campaign is calling for bowel cancer screening in England to start at 50 NOT 60.
The move could save more than 4,500 lives a year, experts say.
Bowel cancer is the second deadliest form of the disease, but it can be cured if it's caught early - or better still prevented.
Caught at stage 1 - the earliest stage - patients have a 97 per cent chance of living for five years or longer.
But catch it at stage 4 - when it's already spread - and that chance plummets to just seven per cent.
In April, Lauren Backler, whose mum died of the disease at the age of 55, joined forces with The Sun to launch the No Time 2 Lose campaign, also supported by Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer. Donate .
Lauren delivered a petition to the Department of Health complete with almost 450,000 signatures, to put pressure on the Government to make this vital change - one that could save thousands of lives every year, and the NHS millions.
We all deserve an equal chance to beat this disease, regardless of where we live.
We know bowel cancer is more likely after the age of 50 - so it makes sense to screen from then.
Plus, it's got to save the NHS money in the long-run, catching the disease before patients need serious and expensive treatments.
It's a no brainer, thousands of lives are at stake every year.
You can still sign Lauren's petition to show your support -
"Two years down the line I realised I was still quite angry but that it wasn't making me any happier, and it wasn't doing anyone else any good either," he admitted.
It was then he turned his attention to raising awareness, to help others.
Jonathan, who worked at Woolworths in Catford, tested positive for a genetic condition, called Lynch syndrome - it means he was 80 per cent more likely to get bowel cancer in his lifetime.
The condition is genetic, and given their father had it, Matthew and his sister Katie, now 50, were both given the option to be tested.
They were warned they had a 50 per cent risk of also testing positive for Lynch syndrome.
"Three months after my blood test, doctors called to tell me I didn't have Lynch," Matthew recalled.
"He told me the next person he had to call was a woman, who was 28, to tell her she did have Lynch.
"It really, really put things in perspective."
In his bid to shout about bowel cancer, Matthew met Lauren Backler, who lost her mum Fiona to the disease at the age of just 55.
Bowel cancer by numbers...
2 - bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer
4 - it's the fourth most common form of cancer
42,000 - people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year
1,300 - people will lose their lives this month to the disease
15,903 - lives will be lost this year to bowel cancer
44 - people die every day
30 - that's one bowel cancer patient every 30 minutes
15 - every 15 minutes someone is told they have bowel cancer
97 - 97 per cent of people diagnosed in the earliest stages will survive for five years or more
7 - only seven per cent survive when diangnosed at the latest stage
60 - 83 per cent of people who get bowel cancer are over the age of 60
50 - it's more common over the age of 50 but ANYONE can get bowel cancer, you're never too young
2,500 - the number of under 50s diagnosed each year
268,000 - people living with bowel cancer in the UK
In the wake of Fiona's death, Lauren, now 27, started a petition calling on the Government to lower the screening age for bowel cancer to 50 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - as it is already in Scotland.
Lauren believes had her mum lived north of the border, she could still be alive today.
With a staggering 446,921 signatures, the 27-year-old handed her petition into the Department of Health last month.
Matthew said: "She (Lauren) knocks my socks off.
"She has a real fire in her, really believing her mum could still be with us today if she had been given the chance of screening from her 50th birthday.
"She's taken her anger and really turned it into something positive.
"And good for her, she's extraordinary. Her mum would be so proud."
THERE'S NO TIME 2 LOSE
Lowering the screening age from 60 to 50 could save more than 4,500 lives every year.
While it's the second deadliest form of cancer in the UK, bowel cancer CAN be cured.
"This campaign is so important, it's time for the Government to act," Matthew said. "Something as simple as a test could save so many lives, it's not even that expensive and so could save the NHS money as well.
"I have met so many bowel cancer patients over the last 20 years, I hate to think how many could still be here with their families today, if they'd been screened at 50.
"The Sun's campaign is vital, raising awareness of this disease on a national level."
Back The Sun’s No Time 2 Lose campaign, tell us why you want to see screening at 50 and share your stories.
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