In June 2021, still in the midst of Covid-19, Gerard White and his wife of more than 40 years, Fionnuala, received their BowelScreen kits by post. “We did the screening test and sent it back and thought no more of it.”

By July, Gerard, who was aged 67 at the time, was called to St. James’s Hospital for a blood test, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. Things moved quickly from there. “I remember when they invited me back for the results, they told me to bring somebody with me. I had a fair idea there was going to be bad news. During the colonoscopy, they had removed five polyps and one of them came back cancerous but the margins were clear, meaning the cancer didn’t appear to have spread. There and then, I was given three options: 1) do nothing; 2) they would keep me under review and monitor me; and 3) they would do surgery and remove 16 inches of my colon to make certain the cancer hadn’t spread. Without hesitation, I chose the surgery.” 

Reflecting on hearing the news of his diagnosis, Gerard said he didn’t let it faze him. “Of course, I was concerned and it’s scary to hear the words ‘you have cancer’, but I think in my head, I’ve just always been a ‘what do we do next’ type of person. So when the news came, I was delighted that the cancer had been caught at such an early stage. Straight from the beginning, my surgical team—who have been absolutely fantastic—Mr. John Larkin and nurses Delia Flannery and Katrina O’Connor put me at ease.  At my first meeting, I was given the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) Patient Passport with a treatment summary and care plan. I was thankfully assured radiotherapy and chemotherapy wouldn’t be necessary because we had caught the cancer so early.”

Gerard’s surgery took place in early August. “It all went according to plan but unfortunately I picked up a urinary tract infection (UTI) while in hospital and they kept me in for about 11 days in total. Had it not been for the UTI, I’d have been out a lot sooner. I was apprehensive about the surgery, I hadn’t had any surgical procedure really since my tonsils were removed when I was ten years old! We were still coming out of Covid at that stage and there was a lot of caution in the hospital setting, and rightly so. They set up an area of the hospital for visits by appointment – they had a glass screen between you and your visitors. My wife joked that all we needed was a telephone on either side and it would have been like a movie prison visit.”

Gerard is sharing his story to call on those in the BowelScreen age bracket to take up screening when the opportunity presents. “The screening is just brilliant because it can detect your cancer at pre-cancer stage or at a very early stage. I had no symptoms of any kind and yet the cancer was there. If I didn’t take up the screening, I don’t know where I’d be now. I also think it is really important that when we talk about signs and symptoms, we are very clear with people that even if you don’t have those symptoms—like me—it’s possible you could still have this cancer, and that’s why screening is just so important. 

“For me as well, I think we need to really look at why we’re putting a barrier in people’s way to access screening. Why are we asking people to sign up or opt-in? It should be automatic that the kit is sent out to you when you come into the age bracket. Since my cancer experience, I tell everyone around me to make sure they have signed up and I think I know about 10 people who weren’t on the register who now are. BowelScreen saves lives and we have to make it as open and as accessible as possible.”