Sancha Robinson was only 31 when diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer . Login or signup to continue reading Dr Robinson, of Adamstown, said "I'm very lucky to still be alive". It was almost 14 years ago that she felt a lump in her belly while having a shower.
Dr Robinson spoke about her experience for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month . Cancer Institute NSW urged people over 45 to take five minutes to do a free screening test. NSW chief cancer officer Tracey O'Brien said more people in NSW were now eligible to take part in bowel screening.
However, of the 6 million Australians aged 50 to 74 who were invited to do the screening in 2021-22, six in 10 didn't do the test. Professor O'Brien said the federal government recently lowered the screening entry age from 50 to 45. "If caught early, bowel cancer can be successfully treated in more than 90 per cent of cases," she said.
"People who do the test are almost twice as likely to have their cancer detected at the earliest stage, when it's most treatable. "Unfortunately, Australia has one of the highest incidences of bowel cancer in the world and it's the second biggest cancer killer in NSW." One in 14 Australians will be diagnosed with bowel cancer in their lifetime, with more than 5350 people dying from the disease a year.
The Hunter New England district recorded 3804 bowel cancer cases from 2017 to 2021, and 1362 people died from the disease in that period. Dr Robinson said her daughter Tarryn was only eight months old when she was .
