Dame Deborah James’ husband urges millions of Brits to take up offer of life-saving NHS bowel cancer tests
DAME Deborah James’s husband has urged millions of Brits to take up the offer of life-saving NHS bowel cancer tests.
Determined to keep his wife’s legacy alive, Sebastien Bowen told The Sun: “I know Deborah would be telling anyone that would listen: ‘Check your poo’.”
It comes as the NHS launches a new drive to encourage more people to take part in the free bowel cancer screening programme.
The screening age starts at 60 and the NHS sends out half a million faecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits by post every month.
But health chiefs say a third of those eligible who are sent FIT tests in the posts never send them back to the lab.
Sun writer Dame Debs died of bowel cancer aged 40, last June, after raising a staggering £7.5million for her BowelBabe fund.
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Her husband Seb, dad to the couple’s kids Hugo, 15, and Eloise, 13, said eight months after her death, they miss Deborah’s “incredible energy and passion to live life to the full” every day.
He added: “Deborah knew early diagnosis saves lives and that giving more people access to tests would do that.
“The sooner you are diagnosed the more likely it is that treatment will be successful.
“Deborah didn’t get that chance, by the time her cancer was caught it had already spread.”
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A small stick provided helps collect a tiny sample of poo from the toilet, which is then sent back to the NHS in a plastic pot.
Lab experts check for traces of blood that are invisible to the naked eye, as these can be an early sign something is wrong.
Bowel or colorectal cancer is the second most common form of the disease in the UK, with 43,000 cases and 17,000 deaths every year in the UK.
Top symptoms include changing toilet habits, blood in the poo and tummy pain.
Around six in 10 people survive five years or more after diagnosis – but catching it early is vital.
Dame Debs spearheaded our No Time 2 Lose campaign which successfully called for the screening age to be lowered from 60 to 50 by 2025.
People aged 60 to 74 are currently sent a kit every two years as routine, with 56 and 58-year-olds also being enrolled.
Seb added: “I know how much it meant to Deborah to see these tests being sent to people in their 50s before she died.
“So if you get sent a test, don’t put it off, it could be the difference between life and death.
“Do it for Deborah, check your poo.”
NHS screening director Steve Russell added: “Screening is one of the best ways to diagnose bowel cancer early, or in some cases prevent it from developing in the first place.
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“The FIT kit offers people a chance to quickly and safely complete a test for bowel cancer at home.
“If you’re sent the kit, help yourself by remembering to complete it. Put it by the loo. Don’t put it off.”