New research shows 1 in 3 miss signs of 2nd deadliest cancer in the country

KentOnline / KMTV

Bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer, but can be treatable and curable if found early.  Daisy Page reports.

Transcript

00:00Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer, claiming over 16,000 lives each year here

00:06in the UK.

00:07The disease can be treatable and curable if found early, but new research led by YouGov

00:12has shown that many people may be missing the early warning signs.

00:16The data has revealed that more than one in three people cannot name a single symptom

00:21of bowel cancer, meaning 35% of all adults don't know the signs of the second deadliest

00:27cancer here in Great Britain.

00:29The results highlighted the lack of public knowledge for symptoms.

00:33Of those who took a survey about the symptoms, 12% recognised bleeding from the bottom, 22%

00:39recognised changing in bowel habits, less than half-mentioned blood in poo and 35% of the people

00:47admitted to not knowing any symptoms at all.

00:49So what should we be looking out for?

00:52There are some symptoms in bowel cancer that people might notice, one of which is a change

00:57in your bowel habit.

00:58In other words, you may move to having a lot more diarrhoea or constipation.

01:03You may have a feeling that when you've gone to the toilet that actually not everything's

01:06come away.

01:07You still need to go.

01:09The other very big one is bleeding either from the back passage or on the poo.

01:17Blood whether it's bright red right through to dark red or black is a sign that there's

01:21bleeding happening somewhere in the bowel.

01:23And unfortunately, some of the time that's going to be bowel cancer.

01:26Not always.

01:27There are simple things like piles can do the same thing.

01:30And so actually getting into a habit of having a quick look at your poo is a good idea because

01:34then you'll spot that something's happening.

01:36You may see blood in the pan or on the poo itself and then really you need to seek help

01:41from a doctor.

01:42Here in the county, Social Enterprise Kent has partnered with Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance

01:48to raise awareness of cancer and screenings.

01:50Through the Smart Cancer programme, they offer accessible and trusted information to support

01:56people and help them feel more comfortable when talking about their health.

01:59At the core of the programme is for people to understand their bodies and go and speak

02:04to a medical professional when they're worried about something.

02:08But it's also to have conversations about risk factors and what we can do to either reduce

02:13our risk in some way or in some cases prevent.

02:16So we talk about cancer screening programmes, about what screening can do and what's really

02:21brilliant about that.

02:23With breast and bowel screening in particular, it can pick things up really early on before

02:29perhaps symptoms have shown.

02:32And actually in the case of cervical screening, it can even prevent cervical cancer from actually

02:36happening in the first place.

02:37The NHS has reduced the age to 50 for receiving a bowel cancer screening kit, which will automatically

02:43arrive in the post every two years.

02:46You can use the bowel screening helpline to request information, a kit or find out more regarding

02:50the screening process.

02:52Daisy Page for KMTV

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