The widow of a man who died of bowel cancer aged 65 says he would still be alive today if the national screening age dropped a lot earlier.
File photo: Former flight attendant and cyclist Keith Marshall died of terminal bowel cancer in 2020. Photo: Supplied
It follows the government announcing it will lower the screening age from 60 years old to 50 for Māori and Pasifika nationwide in July next year.
More than $36 million will go towards the four-year shift that the government estimates will make an extra 60,000 people eligible for screening each year.
Keith Marshall, a former flight attendant and cyclist, died in 2020 the day before the country went into the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, after a five-year battle with bowel cancer.
He was diagnosed on his 58th birthday after spending two years going back and forth to the doctor where he was told he had polyps at the time.
His wife Gail Marshall knew something was seriously wrong when Keith called out to her to check the toilet.
"The amount of blood I saw in the toilet was shocking and as a nurse I was in a panic by then. So I thought it was not nice, not right and how come there was no tests or anything that the doctor could have done.
"We got him straight back to the doctor and he was having a colostomy to have a look at his bowel. I remember we were sitting after that in the room at the hospital and a surgeon came in and said I'm very sorry but it's actually cancer. So that was the beginning of a basically five-year journey."
She believed if screening was available from him at the time her husband would have been able to get confirmation on whether his condition was serious.
The widow said having to wait till next year for the drop to happen was disappointing.
"I just think who's going to get cancer in the middle of all that, that could have been saved."
During his final years, Keith was an advocate for Bowel Cancer NZ and backed calls for the government to provide anyone aged 50 and over access to bowel screening by 2025.
Gail, who is now a school teacher, wanted education into cancer prevention taught in schools and bowel cancer screening dropped down to 25 years old.
"The things that pre-determine bowel cancer such as what we're eating. One of the specialist said do you like your barbecues and Keith said yeah I love them. Worst thing he could have said because the specialist said charcoal is a cancer agent. It's something as simple as that, what are things that we should avoid?"
Waikato DHB public health physician Nina Scott also wanted the drop in the national screening age to get over the line quicker.
"We've been trying to make this happen since 2016 so that's six years, it shouldn't have taken this long for something so obvious but we're really pleased and grateful that it's finally about to happen. The hold up was fear of white backlash, (it) was the number one factor holding this progress back".
She wanted to see an ethnic lead approach in a bid to see higher participation rates amongst Māori and Pacific.
"We need to make sure that the age extension is led by Māori and Pacific so that it's done right from the start. That didn't happen for the bowel screening programme that we currently have so we now have an opportunity to develop this screening programme in a way that actually works really well for Māori and Pacific so we get those high participation rates".
More than 1000 New Zealanders die from bowel cancer every year, and over 3000 are diagnosed.
Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare said high rates of Māori and Pacific peoples made up those numbers.
"A higher proportion of bowel cancer occurs in Māori and Pacific peoples before they reach 60, at approximately 21 percent, compared to 10 percent for non-Māori, non-Pacific peoples."
Bowel cancer is the second-highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand.
Associate Health Minister for Pacific peoples Aupito William Sio said the screening age drop would help save lives.
"This is likely to result in earlier detection of bowel cancer for around 53 people and avoid as many as 44 deaths each year. 44 mothers, fathers, daughters and sons, people in our families will live longer. A $36m investment is significant, but preventing the death of loved ones means much more," he said.
The initiative will roll out across two regions later this year.
Bowel Cancer NZ medical advisor Professor Sue Crengle said the change in age would help fix long-standing issues.
"It has taken years of advocating by Bowel Cancer NZ, Māori and other advocates to lower the age for Māori and Pasifika. We would want to see the Ministry of Health moving much more quickly in future to correct such known inequities."
"A worrying number of Maori and Pasifika people present with advanced stage three or four cancer, significantly lowering their chances of long-term survival - screening will help detect cancers earlier. We also welcome the focus on participation as maximising engagement for all Māori and Pasifika age groups is essential for achieving equity in bowel cancer outcomes," Crengle said.
