DIY cancer screening proves a lifesaver

Ray Glover is glad he overcame his pride and re-took a home bowel cancer test, because it may have saved his life.

The results from his first free home screening or faecal occult blood test (FOBT) kit, obtained though the Health Ministry’s National Bowel Screening Programme, were inconclusive as his sample was contaminated. He thought twice about taking the test again.

He described collecting the stool sample, which had to be sent away to be tested, as ‘‘quite undignified’’.

‘‘I thought about chucking [the second test] in the bin. I was humming and hawing about whether to do it again [but] I thought they’ve had the courtesy to send another one so I decided to use it.’’

Despite being a smoker, the retired army cook from Upper Hutt showed no symptoms and had always kept in good health.

By nearly throwing away the second kit, he could have thrown away his life, he said. The results raised alarm bells and it was soon discovered he had a tumour and polyps in his bowel.

Following recent surgery to remove the cancer, Glover was recovering well and said the FOBT kit had almost certainly prolonged his life.

The National Bowel Screening Programme began as a pilot at the Waitemata District Health Board in 2011, and is now offered by Hutt Valley, Wairarapa and Southern DHBs. It will be available from all health boards by 2021.

Dr Susan Parry, the Health Ministry’s clinical director of the National Bowel Screening Programme, said home screenings were an excellent tool for early cancer detection.

They were free, simple and did not have to be undertaken in a medical facility, she said. The ministry expected the programme would make between 500 and 700 diagnoses a year once fully operational.

Since the pilot was introduced, 458 bowel cancer diagnoses have been made from 210,202 kits.

MoH Statistics show 3000 Kiwis are diagnosed and 1200 die from bowel cancer each year. It is second to lung cancer as the highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand.

Bowel Cancer New Zealand general manager Rebekah Heal said her organisation supported the programme as well as the pharmacy kits.

The programme was only available to those aged 60 to 74 years, despite 11 per cent of those diagnosed with bowel cancer being 50 to 59. With no access to the programme, pharmacy kits were a good option for those in the lower age bracket.

Bowel Cancer NZ was also frustrated by the delay in fully introducing screening.

It wasn’t good enough that some New Zealanders would have to wait four years before it was available, Heal said.