Home tests could be lifesaver

The 70-year-old understands the importance of the new screening programme being piloted in Wolverhampton as one of the first people saved by the home-delivered kit.

Ten lives have already been saved thanks to the pioneering scheme which was launched in July. Health chiefs are now keen to boost the number of people taking the test for those aged 60-69.Mrs Smith, of Ackleton Gardens, Bradmore, then 69, was about to discard the kit when it arrived in November.

But her husband Barrie persuaded her to take the test. She sent it off, the results came back inconclusive and she was told to take another test.

This time she was summoned to see Dr Andrew Veitch, consultant gastroenterologist at New Cross Hospital, and told she had early stage bowel cancer. Mrs Smith, who ran Sedgley Curtains for 24 years before retiring, had to cancel a winter break in Tenerife and had the cancerous lump in her bowel removed a month later on January 16.

She credits the kit with saving her life. "I think everybody should do it," she said.

When she was diagnosed the pensioner initially refused to talk about the cancer.

"I told people about that simple test and they said 'we have had one and put it in the bin' and I said 'how stupid you are'," added Mrs Smith.

"I couldn't believe the test and I still can't. It's like a miracle." The mother-of-one still needs regular colonoscopies to check the cancer has not returned but is on the mend. She praised the care she received from New Cross and nurses at the new Phoenix Centre in Parkfields.

The screening programme has been rolled out to 850,000 people aged between 60 and 69 in Dudley, Walsall and South Staffordshire and will soon be available across the country.

For more information contact your GP or telephone 0800 707 6060.

By Health Correspondent Stuart Pollitt