Cancer patient Steve Hollington credits the home-testing kit for bowel cancer with saving his life.
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00:00 [Music]
00:05 I'm Steve Hollington and I'm 58 and I'm from Warrington in Cheshire.
00:10 The first thing was after my 58th birthday, which was at late August last year in 2022,
00:18 this box appeared which was the bowel screening infamous 'poo on a stick' thing,
00:24 which I didn't know what it was at first and I looked at it
00:27 and that's the kind of first, yeah, certainly the first test of any kind I've ever done
00:33 and the first I've thought about it really because I had no symptoms or anything like that,
00:38 so no real cause of any concern.
00:42 Yeah, I didn't do the test straight, I mean in hindsight I wish I had done everything straight away,
00:47 however it sat there probably for a couple of weeks in its box on the table before I actually did the test.
00:53 Within probably about a week I got a letter through to say that further investigation was required.
01:01 Yeah, the diagnosis was pretty much there and there.
01:05 A very worrying aspect of it for me was when I was waiting for the call a few days after I'd had the MRI and CT scans
01:13 when I knew it was cancer and I was waiting on a call to tell me whether it was operable or not,
01:17 that was scary and very emotional when I was told it was.
01:25 Making me fill up now actually thinking about that.
01:28 That test pack, the bowel screening test pack, the 'poo on a stick' that came through,
01:34 had I not had that through the door that was like a winning lottery ticket for me
01:38 because if I hadn't had it then I probably wouldn't be here in two years' time
01:42 and that could have, you know, saved, well has saved my life and potentially has given me another 20 years to go.
01:51 So it's an absolute no-brainer.
01:54 [Music plays]