Hume has the second-lowest bowel cancer screening rates in the state.
Fewer than one in three Hume residents returned a free bowel-screening kit in the year to July, 2014.
Statistics from the Cancer Council released last Thursday reveal that Hume languishes behind 78 of Victoria’s 79 local councils when it comes to residents taking part in the national bowel cancer screening program.
Frankston was the worst in the state, with a participation rate of 32.2 per cent. Whittlesea had 34 per cent of eligible 50-to-65-year-olds completing and returning screening kits.
Cancer Council Victoria chief executive Todd Harper said the data was a worry, particularly as bowel cancer was the second-biggest cancer killer of Victorians.
“Many people are literally throwing these free, non-intrusive and effective bowel-screening kits in the ‘too hard basket’,” Mr Harper said.
Bowel cancer symptoms often don’t materialise until the cancer has reached a relatively advanced stage.
Devika Jayawardene completed her first screening three years ago, aged 50, despite not having a family history of the disease or any visible symptoms.
She returned a positive test result that was confirmed by further testing.
“I want to get the word out, especially in my community, that bowel cancer can be treatable,” she said.
“In Sri Lanka, we think of having cancer as getting a death sentence. If you can find it before the cancer grows, there is treatment.”
