Who is Andrew Lansley, when was his bowel cancer diagnosis and when did the former health secretary have a stroke?
EX-HEALTH secretary Andrew Lansley has revealed he is being treated for bowel cancer but feels if a screening scheme he backed had been introduced his tumour may have been spotted sooner.
Lord Lansley said he only knew he had the disease after his wife nagged him to see the doctor after he complained of back pain.
Who is Andrew Lansley?
Andrew Lansley is a British Conservative politician who was born in Hornchurch in Essex.
He served as an MP for South Cambridgeshire.
Between 2010 and 2012 he was Health Secretary.
When was his bowel cancer diagnosis?
Lord Lansley said he was diagnosed with stage three tumours nine months ago and is now receiving chemo.
He said that he was "lucky" that his cancer was spotted nine months ago, when spreading back pain and "nagging" from his wife persuaded him to see his GP.
The diagnosis was stage three tumours which had not spread to his liver, giving him "every reason to hope to be among the more than half of cancer patients who can look forward to long-term survival", he said.
The 61-year-old said that if a bowelscope scheme had gone ahead as planned, he would have automatically been called in for screening.
The scheme to detect signs of cancer at age 55 was intended to be rolled out across England by the end of 2016, but fell foul of cuts to Health Education England (HEE) imposed by the Treasury in 2014.
He claimed 3,000 lives a year could be saved by it as the disease is curable if diagnosed early.
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When did the former health secretary have a stroke?
Andrew Lansley suffered a stroke in 1992.
At the time he was only 35 and it came on while playing a game of cricket.
Doctors discharged him the next day claiming he had an inner ear infection.
But brain scans later found he had a stroke.
He made a full recovery although he has permanently lost his sense of "fine balance".
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