Early diagnosis saved mother’s life

Luckily the mum-of- two’s swift action in going straight to her GP meant her bowel cancer was diagnosed early and, after treatment with surgery and chemotherapy, Karen is now in remission.

That is why the 47-year- old assistant Brownie leader is keen to get the message out across the Black Country that early diagnosis of bowel cancer saves lives.

Cancer Research UK has been carrying out an 18-month project in Walsall, led by facilitator Fiona Ward. where there is much lower number of people taking up screening than elsewhere in the country.

The charity says early detection of bowel cancer is vital. If someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer early they have a 91 per cent chance of survival but if they are diagnosed late this falls to just four per cent.

The national bowel screening programme sees every person in the UK who is registered with a GP practice receives a bowel cancer home testing kit on their 60th birthday. The kit comes in the form of an envelope with three little sticks and three ‘windows’ to smear the stool samples into over the course of three days.

The UK target response rate for bowel cancer screening is 60 per cent, but in Walsall as a whole the average response rate is 53.9 per cent.

Under the leadership of Walsall GP, Dr Joo Ee Teoh, funding was secured from the Strategic Clinical Network for Cancer to fund extra time for practice staff to follow-up those who hadn’t completed their screening kit in the 20 GP practices. The GP practices were support by bespoke training delivered by Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.

This training gave staff the expertise and time to approach patients who had failed to respond, either by letter or by phone, and explain to them the importance of completing their screening test.

Through the first phase of the project involving 20 practices in Walsall at least ten abnormal results were identified, with one diagnosed with early stage bowel cancer who had no symptoms and is now well on the road to recovery.

Following the positive outcomes of the project funding was sought from Public Health England to roll it out to the remaining 39 GP practices across Walsall.

“It’s really important that people are aware of the symptoms and also that they take up the chance of bowel cancer screening when it is offered. It really can be a life-saver,” said Karen.

She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2012 at the age of 41, when her children, Jake and Lucy, were just ten and four years old.

Karen said: “My mum had a history of diverticular disease so my main worry was that it could be that. I knew blood in the stools could also be a sign of cancer, but I hadn’t lost any weight and I felt absolutely fine in myself, so I wasn’t too anxious.”

After being fast-tracked to Russell Hall’s colorectal clinic Karen had a sigmoidoscopy which showed a tumour in her bowel.

“They told me there and then that it was cancer. My biggest worry was that it could have spread outside the bowel. It was a very frightening time, particularly as the children were so young,” said Karen.

Luckily, a further CT scan showed there were no secondary tumours, and Karen had an operation to remove the tumour and part of her bowel. After recovering from the surgery, she began a six month course of chemotherapy in April 2012.

Karen also suffered from severe peripheral neuropathy – a side effect of her chemotherapy – in which she experienced disabling numbness and tingling sensations in her fingers and toes. The condition was so bad it made her job as a nurse impossible and she was forced to give up work.

Since her diagnosis Karen has achieved her ambition of doing a sky-dive, went to see her first ever ballet, and last year took the family on a dream holiday to the Dominican Republic. “It’s thanks to early diagnosis and timely treatment that I am here,” said Karen.

“The work of Cancer Research UK’s facilitator team is so important in preventing cancer and catching it early. I can’t stress enough how vital it is for people to see the GP if they spot blood in their stools, and to take up bowel cancer screening when it is offered. It may be inconvenient or slightly embarrassing – but it really could save your life.”