FREE bowel cancer home test kits are available as part of bowel cancer awareness month.
Bowel Cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK.
NHS Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus is supporting the event, part of the national ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign, launched by the Government to highlight the early signs and symptoms.
If you are aged 60 to 74 and registered with a GP, you can be sent a free, easy-to-use home test kit.
Blackburn with Darwen director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said: “Spotting cancer early saves lives.
More than 90per cent of people diagnosed with bowel cancer at the early stage survive for at least five years, compared with only 6.6per cent of those diagnosed at the late stage.”
Symptoms include bleeding from the bottom, or blood in stools, a change in bowel habits lasting longer than four weeks, extreme tiredness, unexplained weight loss and/or pain or a lump in the abdomen.
For a testing kit, call freephone 0800 707 60 60, or for free, confidential information contact the Bowel Cancer Advisory Service on 0800 840 35 40.
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