Ballymena mum's warning signs of common cancer as she calls for screening age to be lowered

A Co Antrim mum-of-three, diagnosed with bowel cancer almost five years ago aged 57, is calling for the screening age in Northern Ireland to be extended to people under 50 amidst a surge in cases of the disease in younger people.

This week it was announced that the UK National Screening Committee recommend that bowel cancer screening is offered to individuals aged 50-74. Currently, in Northern Ireland, anyone aged 60-74 years old, who is registered with a GP, is eligible for bowel cancer screening.

Alison Graham, 61 and from Ballymena was diagnosed with stage 4 incurable colorectal cancer in June 2020, when she was given 18 to 24 months to live at the time. Today she is determined to help as many people as possible by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

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Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers for both men and women, with one in 20 people in Northern Ireland likely to develop the disease. Screening can help detect cancer at an early stage when treatment is more effective. It can also check for and remove polyps, which are abnormal growths in the bowel that can go on to develop into cancer over time.

What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?

Possible symptoms of bowel cancer can include:

• blood in your poo;

• looser poo, pooing more often and/or constipation;

• a pain or lump in your tummy;

• feeling more tired than usual for some time;

• losing weight for no obvious reason.

Alison says she first took ill in November 2019, feeling extremely ill with flu-like symptoms, fatigue, and also bleeding, which she put down to haemorrhoids.

She explained: “I went to see my GP, went through all my symptoms and had bloods done. I was told that yes, I had haemorrhoids, given the usual medication for that.”

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Alison was hoping a sunshine holiday to South Africa in February would give her the boost she needed, but unfortunately, by Christmas, she had taken a turn for the worse.

“I had become really constipated and was getting progressively worse and the haemorrhoids weren’t clearing up. I came home at the end of February and the Covid-19 pandemic was starting and you couldn’t see your GP and I got worse. The constipation wouldn’t ease and I took really bad pains at the top of my legs.

“Eventually, I phoned the doctors in tears because the bleeding was worse, and I was actually lying on the floor in pain because I couldn’t sit as it was too painful. I then got to speak to a doctor, at that stage the fatigue was horrendous, the bleeding had got worse and they said they were going to refer me to a bowel consultant.”

When she learned it could be months before she would be seen, Alison opted to go to a private clinic and on June 21, 2020, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer, just 10 minutes after arriving for her appointment.

She started radiotherapy and oral chemo on December 29 and her treatment finished on July 5, 2021. She hasn’t had to go back on treatment since and some of the tumours on her lungs have shrunk.

Alison is now using her experience to help others recognise the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer.

“I wanted to put vinyl stickers on every toilet door in Ballymena and anywhere else further afield if I can get them so that if someone is going to the loo they can see the five symptoms There’s a wee QR code they can click on and it takes them to a video I did for Bowel Cancer UK. The stickers, designed by my daughter Madison, are in over 300 businesses in Ballymena to increase awareness.

“We all know our normal when it comes to our bowel movements and when it’s not that’s when we need to go and do something about it. Even if you only have one symptom, please go and see about it and if you’re not satisfied, keep shouting and fighting until someone listens.”

Given the increase in bowel cancer diagnosis in young people, Alison says the need for lifesaving home testing for bowel cancer to be reduced to well below 50 should be a priority for our Health Minister.

She added: “Bowel cancer, if detected early, can be treated successfully. Preventive action will increase the number of people surviving bowel cancer and reduce the strain on our health service to treat patients who have been diagnosed at a later stage.

It can take 10 to 15 years for a polyp to become cancerous so reducing the age for the FIT (faecal immunochemical test) may have given me an earlier, curable diagnosis, which is what is needed for the future.”

In response, a Department of Health spokesperson said: "Action 7 of the Northern Ireland Cancer Strategy (2022-32) has committed to reducing the sensitivity levels used in the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) tests and lowering the age range in the bowel cancer screening programme, in line the UK National Screening Committee recommendation.

"The Minister also recently published his three-year strategic plan for the Health and Social Care, further committing that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, we will have an expanded bowel screening programme.

"Work to meet the commitments to lower the age range and further reduce the sensitivity level is ongoing but must be viewed within the context of the wider financial and capacity challenges within the supporting services. This is because screening programmes are a pathway and not just a ‘test’.

"As such, where a screening programme makes changes to its eligibility, it is important that the associated infrastructure, to include diagnostic capacity and any treatments that may be required, are aligned."

For more information about bowel cancer signs and symptoms visit www.BeCancerAwareNI.info. For more information about bowel cancer screening visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/bowel-cancer-screening.

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