‘Start bowel screening at 50’
Keith Marshall was told he had bowel cancer on his 58th birthday.
Following intensive treatment in 2013 and 2014, Marshall found out last year the cancer had returned and had metastasised, spreading to three other places in his body. It has also spread to his spine, leaving him paralysed and unable to walk.
The Masterton man, of iwi Nga¯ti Kahungunu, was told last week he had four months to live. Speaking from hospital, Marshall said he was taking comfort in his faith.
‘‘My family have been to hell and back twice. In saying that, what can you do? My faith is strong and I just know that my life is in God’s hands, so he’ll take me when he’s ready.’’
The 65-year-old is backing a call from Bowel Cancer NZ for the Government to immediately extend the national bowel screening programme to Ma¯ori aged 50 to
59, and the wider population in that age group by 2025. The eligible population is currently those aged 60 to 74.
While it is too late for Marshall, he wants the programme extended to save other Ma¯ori. The father and grandfather does not blame anyone but thinks if a wider screening programme was in place when he needed it, he would not be dying now.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world, with
3000 new cases diagnosed each year. A national screening programme, which aims to detect early-stage bowel cancer, is being progressively rolled out around the country. The last district health boards (DHBs) are meant to join the programme in
2021. Canterbury, Capital and Coast, South Canterbury and Taira¯whiti DHBs are all expected to join before the end of June.
Bowel Cancer NZ recently released its Call To Action 2025 document, laying out seven goals to improve screening and treatment of bowel cancer.
According to the group, by not screening people in their 50s, like Australia, the Government is condemning many people to an early grave.
‘‘We call them the ‘the forgotten 360’ – the 12 per cent of New Zealanders diagnosed with bowel cancer every year aged between 50 and 59,’’ Bowel Cancer NZ spokeswoman and University of Otago professor Sarah Derrett said.
The rate is higher for Ma¯ori, with 22 per cent of those diagnosed with bowel cancer diagnosed in their 50s.
Because the current screening programme starts from age 60, experts have labelled it inequitable and discriminatory against Ma¯ori.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Deborah Woodley said expert advisers believed screening from 60 would ensure the programme targeted those most at risk without overwhelming available colonoscopy services.
Woodley said no decision had been made on lowering the screening age for Ma¯ori and Pacific people as the ministry was focused on rolling out the programme across the country. So far, the scheme had detected cancers in more than 500 people.