NHS bowel cancer screening checks if you could have bowel cancer. It’s available to everyone aged 54 to 74 years. The programme is gradually expanding to make it available to everyone aged 50 to 53 years.
You use a home test kit, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood. Learn more about the at-home tests and what to do if you’re worried on our website staffsstokeics.org.uk/bowel-cancer/
so my name is Jeff Nash um and I’m a business owner from sto on Trent and I I suppose my diagnosis of cancer took place on the 3rd of January 2023 um I’d been calling for an endoscopy um and that endoscopy was prompted by the fact that I had uh taken the fit test or the Poo test uh sometime just before Christmas uh I wasn’t particularly didn’t particularly have any symptoms actually I I was told come in and do an endoscopy because you know something shown up on that fit test and I was on holiday over Christmas so I went away over Christmas and booked in the very first endoscopy of 2023 and that all went fine until we got to the far end of my bow and then immediately I was watching on the screen you can see it when you’re having the when you’re having the endoscopy done that um there was a big tuor there it was obvious that it was something that shouldn’t be there it looked black and pretty angry looking and actually changed the atmosphere in the room but obviously they managed to pick something up that I wasn’t aware of week before that I was skiing you know I cycled to work regularly so I didn’t really have major symptoms that I noticed at the time so um that’s that’s when I got my diagnosis my name is Mark Doren and I’m the senior commissioning lead for cancer services in staff chat and stockhom Trent and I’m just going to give you some information about the NHS Bell screening program how easy it is to do and why is it is very important um you will have seen elsewhere in this video about Jeff who used the Bell screening program and was diagnosed with bell cancer very early and had successful treatment which just goes to show how effective the screening program can be if people participate the screening program is at the moment eligible for anybody living in England who is the age 54 and upward up to age 70 the age the low age limit 54 is coming down each year we’re reducing it by two years so in a couple of years time the program will start for people age 50 as I say the the endoscopy was um triggered by the fact that I received the the fit test in the post the Poo test in the post fact actually both my wife and myself received it and we we koled each other into doing it which was probably a good thing and um but after after having seen the tumor Loom up on the screen during the endoscopy um I was actually the same day put through a number of tests um I had a CT scan um that day I also had blood tests that day and I was scheduled in immediately for MRI scans within about another 5 days so so all in the course of 7 days from the original diagnosis um the team that was looking into my cancer had a full picture and they’ um concluded that it was a was a stage 2 three Bell cancer and actually it was actually it was 5.1 CM across and I think they decided that it was going to be an emergency to operate on it because there were lots of other complications other than you know the long-term effects of cancer that that I could have got from having such a big tumor in my in my bow so I was actually operated on on the um 1st of February which was actually only 28 days after the diagnosis at approximately the point0 of your birthday you’ll receive a letter in the post telling you that you are eligible for Bell screening and then two weeks after that you’ll get a package in the post that looks something like this a little box with instructions with the test kit and with an envelope to return the completed sample when you receive the box please don’t throw it away keep it and use it the um process is very simple take the test take the test kit out you’ll find a little tube which also contains a very very small brush you have to collect a sample of poo by catching it on some toilet paper gently brush the bristles of the plastic brush over the Poo to collect a little bit of poo sample pop it in the test tube seal it with a click and that’s it you’re done wash your hands clean up and then pop the test tube in the return envelope drop it in the post box it’s free to post back that’s all it takes and then for the vast majority of people about 2 weeks later you’ll receive a letter in the post confirming that there was nothing abnormal found well I’m I’m pretty fit and healthy actually I’ve um you leave quite an active life I cycle to work a lot I ski regularly um in the winter obviously and do a lot of walking and uh gardening and and and actually I was up on my feet after the operation it was done robotically um at the at the Royal Stoke and I was on my feet within within you 12 hours of the operation I was out of Hospital in less than 3 days and really just being careful for about 6 weeks but after that I went back to cycling and and I was actually um uh back to pretty much normal within about 6 months and now I’m probably feeling fitter because actually looking back in hindsight I think I had more symptoms from the from the cancer than I kind of cared to admit myself but that was mainly just fatigue and things so I’ve got a lot more energy now having had the had the had the operation and postoperatively I’ve had you an annual test now it’s over a year ago since the operations so I’ve had another another endoscopy that was clear and I’ve had blood tests and and and CT scans and those were all clear and the good thing about um my situation was that um because the the cancer was picked up early and it was dealt with surgically in such a short space of time it hadn’t really spad anywhere they didn’t find any cancerous cells in the lymphatic system and because of that I I wasn’t advised to have chemo and um a year later they haven’t seen any signs of it coming back so so that that early intervention uh and operation which would only have been possible because I you know bothered to do the the fit test uh meant that I didn’t have um you know made complications with the operation and I didn’t have to do chemotherapy and that meant I was you know back in probably better condition than I was when I was diagnosed within less than 12 months if they do detect blood in your poo then you will be contacted by the local hospital who will invite you for a colonoscopy it doesn’t mean that you’ve got cancer but it does mean that there’s a risk you’ve got cancer in which case it’s important to have the colonoscopy as soon as possible and hopefully if you do have cancer it will be diagnosed early and you will have successful treatment and that’s really all there is to it it’s not an invasive procedure cuz you’re dealing with something that comes out of your body every day on a tissue and it’s just a question of swiping that and and sending it off um I mean in my case it saved me from a cancer that could have spread it saved me from operations that could have me my my my bow was rejoining what’s called reection so I was pooing normally or fairly normally within you know four or five days of the operation and and and I was back you know in Full full fitness if I hadn’t done that test that that that that tumor could either spread cancer throughout my body or it could have caused a you blockage in my bow which would have been it could have been also quite quite dangerous situation and you know really just to avoid that if you get one of those tests send it off at the moment in England only between 60 and 70% of people actually complete complete their Bell screening test it would be great if more people could complete it because it would mean we find more cancers earlier more cancers that are treatable and ultimately people will live longer if they if they have cancer and it is treated as soon as possible actually everybody that I spoke to has heard my story has you know gone off looking for those tests you if you get sent one in the post just do it and send it back cuz it can not only save your life but actually can reduce all the complications if you’re going get Bale cancer you’re going to get Bale cancer but the earlier you can pick it up the better because your prognosis in the long term is going to be that much better for you if you’d like more information about Bell about the national Bell screening program please visit the NHS England website