MAY is Bowelscan month and there is no better time than now to grab a kit and test yourself for the second most commonly diagnosed cancer for males in Australia.
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Bowel cancer is more common in men than breast cancer is in women, with this month dedicated to raising awareness for testing against the deadly disease.
The survival rate for bowel cancer diagnosed at stage one is 93 per cent. The survival rate for bowel cancer diagnosed at stage four is only eight percent.
Testing kits are available at any chemist or through Rotary of Port Macquarie.
It is not an over exaggeration to say that these tests save lives. Terry Crossley is a prime example.
Thankfully, Mr Crossley, a Port Macquarie man, detected his bowel cancer early due to his mindfulness to test for the disease every 12 months using the home testing kit.
Mr Crossley was diagnosed in 2006. Due to the early detection, he was able to fight and defeat the disease as it was in the early stages.
He is now cancer free.
"When I found out it was an enormous surprise. No one ever expects to get cancer," Mr Crossley said.
"It was the first and the only one I had ever had so it was a significant shock. I was still working at the time and it causes you to do a major revaluation of your life.
"Even at the stage it was caught, at there was a chance I wasn't going to pull through, so it makes you think."
The incidence of bowel cancer increases dramatically over the age of 50. The likelihood of being diagnosed with bowel cancer at 80 is 10 times greater than at 50.
These scary statistics are backed up by the fact that more than 4000 thousand Australians will die of bowel cancer in 2016.
More than 15,000 will be diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and one in 12 people will develop bowel cancer in their lifetime.
The Australian Government issues people over the age of 65 with a test kit every five years, but that is simply not often enough, according to Mr Crossley.
"I thank God for the testing kit. At the time it was before the Government started providing them," he said.
matthew.attard@fairfaxmedia.com.au