Alagiah: Scots screening could have saved me
BBC newsreader George Alagiah believes his bowel cancer could have been picked up earlier had he lived in Scotland, where earlier screenings are offered.
The 62-year-old was diagnosed four years ago and underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy and five operations on the disease, which had spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
After getting the all-clear in 2015, the father of two was given the devastating news late last year that the cancer had returned.
Alagiah, the face of the BBC’s News at Six since 2007, says that while he knows his condition can no longer be cured, it could have been a different story had he lived in Scotland, where men and women are offered bowel cancer screening every two years from the age of 50. In England, it does not start until 60.
The Sri Lankan-born journalist said: ‘Had I been screened, it could have been picked up. Had they had screening at 50, like they do in Scotland... I would have been screened at least three times and possibly four by the time I was 58, and this would have been caught at the stage of a little polyp: snip, snip.
‘We know that if you catch bowel cancer early, survival rates are tremendous. I have thought, “Why have the Scots got it and we don’t?”.
Alagiah has been told he has stage four bowel cancer, meaning his chance of surviving at least five years is only 10 per cent. By contrast, his chance of surviving stage one bowel cancer for at least five years would have been almost 100 per cent.
Just hours after he was told by his surgeon that his cancer had returned in December last year, Alagiah went on to present the news that day as normal.
He said the disappointment of the cancer coming back was ‘almost worse than the shock of finding out in the first place’. He told The Sunday Times: ‘The first time you are just stunned and shocked. But somehow, when you think you have made it – well, I might still make it – the disappointment was pretty bad.’
Alagiah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April 2014. He underwent tests after noticing blood in his stools and a colonoscopy found a tumour.
The cancer spread to his liver and lymph nodes but was eradicated by extensive treatment, including three major operations. He returned to the BBC after being cleared of the disease in November 2015.
Alagiah has two children, Adam, 31, and Matt, 27, with his wife of 33-years, Frances Robathan, whom he met at Durham University.
He confesses to suffering ‘wobbly moments’ when he visualises his family after his death. He said: ‘We could be enjoying a nice walk and something will trigger this feeling.
‘It is not ego, it is just that we are a unit. We love each other and I could break up that unit, not through any fault of my own, and that is tough.’
Meanwhile he keeps fit in case he needs more surgery, saying: ‘If the surgeon has to go into me a sixth time, he knows this is a guy who has been on the exercise bike, who has done his weights, who has eaten well, who’s got himself into shape.’