Bowel Cancer Screening Age Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Glyn Davies
Main Page: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)Department Debates - View all Glyn Davies's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(8 years, 2 months ago)
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Caroline Ansell
I thank my hon. Friend for her moving contribution. Personal testimony highlights just why earlier intervention is vital—it can be life-saving.
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
My hon. Friend makes reference to personal experience. I would not be here today without an early diagnosis of the bowel cancer I suffered. I had an operation that left me with a stoma, and I am living proof that someone can make a 100% recovery and even become a Member of Parliament, if they work hard.
I hope my hon. Friend agrees that one of the big benefits of screening is not only the identification of blood as a possible sign of bowel cancer, but the raising of awareness. The truth is that it came as a huge shock to me, and I imagine that it comes as a huge shock to people who think they are invulnerable and do not believe that they could possibly be suffering from bowel cancer.
Caroline Ansell
My hon. Friend makes an apposite point, and I hope that, in a small way, this debate, underpinned as it is by personal testimony, plays a part in raising awareness. As I said at the beginning of my speech, the disease takes the second highest number of lives of all cancers.