I’m David. I turned 50 and received my bowel cancer screening test in the mail. It had been sitting on the chest of drawers in my bedroom for 6 months. Untouched. Thinking about it now, the crazy part about this story is that I had been working with the Jodi Lee Foundation to promote the bowel cancer screening test… and I had failed to do mine!

In hindsight, I don’t think it was active avoidance, or the thought of ‘messing’ up the test, but with no bowel cancer in the family I don’t think I saw it as a priority.  The screening test wasn’t top of mind, until my colleague Holly (to whom I am eternally grateful) started to get into my ear about taking the bowel cancer screening test. Eventually, I relented and I did my home test.

I remember things moved rather quickly after that. A letter arrived declaring my test was positive for blood in my poo!  I was in shock and the catastrophising began!  I went to my GP as a matter of urgency, which provided some reassurance. Then I was booked in for a colonoscopy, which resulted in the removal of two polyps with no further complications.  I gained further reassurance when I was told to “come back in five years”. My response to the specialist was “I’ll be back in three!”.

So, with the confidence of a near miss, I was happy and grateful to move on with my life.

18 months later, my wife Nicola received her bowel cancer screening home test kit. With the same gentle “nagging” as my colleague Holly had with me, I encouraged her to take the test immediately. She did, and her test also came back positive! Nicola has had a successful career in the medical industry and moved through the process with more grace and calm than I did, but the results of her colonoscopy were compelling. She had three polyps removed. According to the specialist, one of the polyps was large and deep and luckily caught before things turned serious.

Thankfully, we are both ok and have put in place a management regime of regular colonoscopies.

Our children, Ruby and Sam still have both of their parents, which may not have been the case had we not taken this lifesaving test.

As a result of mine and Nicola’s experience,  I now offer free bowel cancer screening tests to all of my employees and invite Nick Lee ( Founder and Chair of the Jodi Lee Foundation), who I’ve known since school, to talk to my new employees every year about Jodi, the Foundation and the potentially live saving  BEAT message (Be healthy and active, Explore your family history, Act on symptoms, Take the test).

I encourage you all to take the bowel screening test without delay. It could save your life.