David Crombie: The lorry driver tested for bowel cancer at home
A Ross-shire man is encouraging people to take part in bowel screening after he was treated successfully for bowel cancer.
Lorry driver David Crombie, 53, from Alness was diagnosed as having early stage bowel cancer after completing a bowel screening test kit.
Mr Crombie’s test kit arrived shortly after his birthday in early January. He said: “About two weeks before the kit arrived I’d read a story in a newspaper and it said that the kit helped to diagnose the disease early and this gave people a much better chance of survival.
"I’m a typical man and might have put it off if it wasn’t for that story but it sounded like common sense to me so I just did it.”
The screening test looks for small amounts of blood in bowel motions as this may suggest a higher chance of bowel cancer. The amount of blood can be so small that it may not be seen.
A positive test means that blood was found in the bowel motions tested. This does not mean that a person has bowel cancer as blood can be present for other reasons. However, people with a positive test result will be offered further investigation so that this can be looked into.
Mr Crombie’s screening test was positive and he was invited to attend Raigmore Hospital for further investigation in the middle of February. This found early stage bowel cancer and he was admitted shortly afterwards for surgery.
As a result of having found the cancer at an early stage, Mr Crombie did not require any additional treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
“It’s been a rollercoaster year but I am so pleased that I took the test because if I’d put it off for another two years or waited until I had symptoms it might have been too late.
"I have an ileostomy and a stoma bag which might be reversed but even if I have it till the end of my days it’s an inconvenience I can live with not like a pine box. I was feeling fit and healthy when I took the test, I’d no idea I had cancer.”
NHS Highland’s bowel screening coordinator Dr Rob Henderson said: “I’m really grateful to Mr Crombie for telling his story. It demonstrates just how important is it that people take part in bowel screening.
"Screening aims to diagnose bowel cancer early when there is a good chance of being cured. The more people who take the test the more lives will be saved through early diagnosis and treatment.”
More information about the Scottish bowel screening programme can be found at www.bowelscreening.scot.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 0800 0121 833.
