Man, 64, credits bowel cancer home testing kit for saving his life
A man who said he felt like his "world was collapsing" when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer has credited a routine home testing kit for saving his life - and is urging others to "not ignore it" when they receive one through the post.
Wayne Sandford, 64, said he had experienced "no symptoms whatsoever" but had made an agreement with his wife that they would take the tests when they arrived. Anyone aged 54 to 74 and registered with a GP automatically get a bowel cancer screening home test kit (FIT kit) through the post every two years.
After sending off the test, Wayne, from Grimsby, was invited for an appointment with his doctor, and was told he had bowel cancer.
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He said: "I'd ignored the screening test when it came before, so me and my wife made a pact that we would do the tests. I'd had no symptoms whatsoever, so when I found out it was just horrendous. It was such a shock.
"I broke down and I felt like my world was collapsing, it was so scary. But I was determined to fight it."
Wayne underwent an operation to remove the tumour, which was found in his sigmoid colon, and has been on a long road to recovery ever since.
"The pain was horrendous when I was recovering and the recovery process was strange," he said.
"For the first three or four days when I came out of theatre I was being fed on a drip, and then doctors slowly started introducing food. It feels like, even though the cancer had been taken out, an alien had been implanted in my stomach.
"Every time I ate something, I would be in so much pain and screaming out. I didn't know what was happening to my stomach or bowel.
"I can't eat certain things anymore and it's difficult and ongoing, but my recovery is progressing. At the end of the day, I'm still here, I'm alive, and I'm in remission."
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When asked what advice Wayne would give to anyone who is suffering with bowel cancer - or to those who receive a testing kit through the post - he said: "The pain is awful during the recovery process, but don't take it out on your nearest and dearest.
"When the test comes, don't ignore it under any circumstances. This is the rest of your life, and doing that test saved my life."