Gastroenterologist Associate Professor John Ding said bowel cancer was Australia’s deadliest cancer for 25 to 44 year olds.
Doctors are calling for bowel cancer testing to start at an earlier age, while young sufferers speak out to bust the myth that cancer is an ‘old person’s disease’.
Busy working Melbourne mother-of-two Katie Prior got the life-changing diagnosis at just 34.
“Being 34 you’re like, it’s the last thing you think of, it’s the last thing you think that’s ever going to happen to you,” Prior told
While the federal government recently lowered the age of those eligible for a free home test kit from 50 to 45, Ding believes it should be available even earlier.
“In the perfect world from the age of 30, we would undertake screening for bowel cancer,” he said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of Australians who are diagnosed earlier, with the early stage bowel cancer can actually be cured.”
Bowel Cancer Australia chief executive Julien Wiggins said bloody stools weren’t the only sign of bowel cancer.
“An obvious change in your bowel habits, weight loss you cannot explain, extreme tiredness for no reason, or a lump or swelling in your abdomen,” Wiggins said
