A GRANDMOTHER whose bowel cancer was detected early after a television campaign spurred her to get tested has urged others to go for screening.
Pauline Daly, 60, from Rutherglen in Glasgow, was given the all-clear in June this year after undergoing radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery to remove a tumour.
Mrs Daly, who has three sons, five grandchildren and five step-grandchildren, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2016 after an advert featuring comedian with Fred MacAulay encouraged her to take part in bowel screening.
She said she had previously delayed getting checked because she had irritable bowel syndrome. However, she said she had changed her mind after seeing an advert on television for the 'Join the Bowel Movement' public health campaign a few weeks before her bowel screening test arrived in the post.
The test is offered to anyone aged 50-74 in Scotland and is the most effective way to detect bowel cancer early.
Following diagnosis, Mrs Daly began treatment in April 2016 and received five weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Surgery to remove the tumour was carried out in August last year.
She said she feels "incredibly lucky" that the disease was caught early.
She added: “I hadn’t ever returned my bowel screening test as my irritable bowel syndrome meant I’d had colonoscopies in the past. I knew it was something I should do but I always put it off. I really like Fred MacAulay and when I saw him in that advert I decided to just get on with it, and I’m so glad I did.
“I was in denial when I first heard that they’d found a tumour, but I had to keep it together for my family. You hear cancer and think it’s the end, but once the treatment was explained to me, I knew I had to get on and get through it for them.”
Mrs Daly said life was finally beginning to return to normal.
She said: “I feel incredibly lucky that my tumour was found when it was and grateful for the amazing support I had from family, doctors and other patients going through the same thing.
“My diagnosis has changed me. After suffering from depression, I had lost my confidence and become kind of withdrawn, but now my outlook is much more positive. Yes, there are hard days, but I feel like I’ve been given a second go at life, and I’m going to make the most of it.
“It doesn’t matter if you feel fine. I felt fine. I try not to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t done the test when I did. If I’d left it, it would have been a different story. Don’t put it aside, or wait until the next year, or the next. Just get it done.”
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