Laurence “Laurie”
When father of two Laurie turned 50 and received his first free bowel screening test in the mail, he did it immediately and it thankfully returned a negative result.
However, when he received his next test two years later, he left it in his bathroom for several months before taking action.
“I got sick of seeing it. I was about to put it in the bin when my wife walked in and asked me what I was doing,” he said.
“I told her that I was fit, healthy and had no symptoms, so didn’t need to do it. She told me I had to do the test, so I did it that day.”
Laurie’s test results were positive, which meant he needed to see his doctor to organise a colonoscopy to find out more.
The colonoscopy found two polyps. Polyps are a small clump of cells that form on the lining of the bowel wall – most are harmless, but some can develop into cancer over time, if left undetected.
Laurie’s doctor ordered a biopsy of the polyps, which confirmed the growths were cancerous.
“All the wind was taken out of me; I wasn’t expecting it,” he said.
Laurie’s doctor highlighted how vital this early diagnosis was in saving his life, as the one cancerous tumour and another pre-cancerous polyp were located close to an artery. If the cancer had spread into his blood stream, he could have been dead within 12 months.
“I would have been dead by now if I hadn’t done the test, the cancer could have spread quickly based on where it was located and there would have been nothing the doctors could have done for me,” he said.
“That was very confronting and even more shocking than the diagnosis.”
Laurie’s cancerous tumour and pre-cancerous polyp were removed during surgery. Because it was found early, no further treatment was needed.
He had a follow-up colonoscopy in June 2023, which thankfully came up clear.
Now 55, Laurie is grateful to be here to tell his story as part of Cancer Council Victoria’s new bowel screening campaign.
“I urge everyone to do their bowel screening test as soon as they get it. If you’ve lost your test or it’s expired, order a new one and do it. Don’t take the risk, it saved my life, and it could save yours too,” Laurie said.
"I look back on everything I have been able to do because I did the test, including seeing my daughter graduate, celebrating 30 years of marriage with my wife, taking a road trip with my son, going fishing and watching footy with my mates. I can’t believe I could have missed all this if I hadn’t done the test.
On top of sharing his story for this campaign, Laurie was part of the creative team behind its creation.
“When we saw the brief about needing to raise awareness for bowel screening, I knew my story would be important to include.”
“I’ve told a lot of my mates that they need to do the test as soon as they get it in mail and being able to be part of this campaign means that my story could also help others to do the test. I don’t want anyone to lose their life to bowel cancer when it can be treated successfully if found early,” he said.
“Don’t take the risk, take the test. It saved my life, and it can save yours too.”
Sharon
With a family history of cancer and career as a hospital administrator, Sharon knows how important it is to keep up to date with health checks and cancer screening tests.
After losing her uncle to bowel cancer in 1990, Sharon decided to have a colonoscopy which found non-cancerous polyps that were removed.
Now aged 66, Sharon has been vigilant about monitoring symptoms and has done the bowel screening test every two years since the age of 50, always returning a negative result.
However, Sharon’s last bowel screening test – completed just before Christmas 2025 – came back with a different result.
“I’d done the test for so many years and they had always been negative, so it was a shock that this one was positive. It goes to show that you just have to do it every time it comes in the mail,” she said.
Further testing found a large pre-cancerous polyp near the joint of Sharon’s large and small intestines.
Sharon was told that the polyp could have turned into bowel cancer if it hadn’t been found at an early stage. Thankfully, the polyp was able to be removed.
“When you work in a hospital, you end up having a very clinical take to things, so I knew I just needed to get done what needed to be done,” she said.
“I’ll have another test in a year, hopefully that will give me the all clear.”
Sharon encouraged others to prioritise the bowel screening test, even if previous results had been negative.
"It’s not hard to do and it’s good for peace of mind. My message for people is not to be complacent,” she said.
“You might be like me and have the test come back negative for many years, but don’t assume that every test will be negative. I had no symptoms and live a healthy life, so it goes to show it’s so important to do the test.”
Helen C
Having survived both breast and bowel cancer before the age of 60, Helen now encourages others to protect their health through screening and volunteers to support those going through cancer treatment.
Despite a family history of cancer, Helen was still shocked to have been first diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 40s, and then bowel cancer at the age of 56.
Now aged 74, the former HR professional from Wonga Park is sharing her story to encourage others to prioritise cancer screening.
Helen was one of the first 390,905 eligible Australians aged 55 to 65 to participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program during the first two years of the program (2006–2008). 1
At the time, Helen felt healthy and didn’t have any bowel cancer symptoms. However, the results of her bowel screening test came back positive.
Helen was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer and needed surgery to remove a small part of her bowel.
Finding her bowel cancer early saved Helen’s life, as her cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes.
“I thought ‘oh, here we go again!’. It had been 13 years since I was cleared of my breast cancer and I’m lucky that I had great family support all around, including my husband Ron,” she said.
“The hardest part was having to tell people in person; it was very tiring to have to repeat it again and again.”
Since the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program began in August 2006, more than 11.4 million screening tests have been completed, with about 4.8 million people aged 50 to 74 participating at least once. 2
A significant change to the program in July 2024 now means people aged 45 to 49 are eligible and can opt-in to receive a free kit in the mail.
Helen stays vigilant with all her health checks and cancer screening tests. She also actively encourages friends and family to prioritise their own cancer screening tests.
"I can’t control the whole wide world, but I can try and get more people to do their screening tests – they are an opportunity to get everything checked out,” she said.
“You get your car serviced every year to make sure it’s in good order, why don’t you do it with your health?”
After going through cancer treatment twice, Helen knows how important support systems are. This is why she has chosen to spend her retirement years helping cancer patients by volunteering at the small hospital where she had her own chemotherapy treatment.
“About 18 months ago I thought 'this is the job I need to do’. I know exactly what it’s like to sit there for hours and hours waiting for treatment to be over,” she said.
“I go there once a week and chat to the patients; some people might go by themselves or might not have a support system. I try to go a different day every week so I can see different people.”
Paul
When father of three Paul received his first bowel cancer screening test kit in the mail just after his 50th birthday, he didn't hesitate to do the test. Thankfully, the test came back negative.
So when a second bowel screening test kit showed up two years later, Paul once again promptly completed and sent off the test. However, this time he received news from his GP that the test had come back positive.
Paul was referred to get a colonoscopy which found a large polyp in his bowel. The polyp wasn't removed during the procedure and Paul was then referred to a gastroenterological surgeon for a biopsy.
“I wasn’t overly worried – that was until my first appointment with the surgeon when he casually but sensitively said ‘you have bowel cancer’,” he said.
“When I looked at my wife’s reaction, I knew at that moment that this diagnosis was going to affect those around me much more than it would myself.”
Paul describes himself as “lucky” having only needed a partial bowel resection and not requiring chemotherapy or radiation therapy following his diagnosis.
“I'm lucky that I got treated early. I have spoken to many other cancer survivors since my own diagnosis who haven’t been as lucky. Some have fought cancer for multiple years, have required full bowel resections and now live with a stoma,” he said.
It has been almost three years since Paul's surgery, and although he is still under clinical observation, he remains cancer free.
Paul is now encouraging everyone aged 45 to 74 to do the free at-home bowel screening test as soon as it comes in the mail.
“I was symptom free, had no family history of this disease and lived a relatively healthy life. If I had not completed the test and let it lapse, my story could have been very different,” he said.
“I've been advocating to my friends and family to do the test. It's easy, free and simple – there's nothing to it.”
Helen P
Helen has dedicated her life to her community, and as a former school teacher she is valued by the families and people around her.
Helen worked full time as a deputy head at a primary school during the pandemic and navigated the challenges that remote learning put on schools. This significant change to her routine meant she uncharacteristically put-off doing her bowel cancer screening test when it arrived in the mail.
“I have always done cancer screenings when they were due, so I was pretty good at doing them,” she said.
At the age of 67, the pandemic was still impacting Helen’s work and lifestyle, but she recognised it was time to stop putting off the latest bowel cancer screening test and get back up to date, only to discover it had expired.
“I had put the test kit on my desk and it just sat there. When I realised it had expired it put into perspective how long I had put off doing the test. I reordered another test kit straight away, which was easy and quick to do,” she said.
After reordering the test kit, Helen did the bowel cancer screening test, and received a positive result.
“The test is so easy to do, once you open up the kit, read the instructions and know what is involved,” she said.
“When I got my test results back I couldn’t believe it came back positive.”
Helen had no symptoms, was active and maintained a healthy diet, so she was shocked to have a positive test result.
Her doctor ordered a blood test, a gastroscopy and a colonoscopy which found a tumour in her bowel.
Helen was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer, which had broken through to the next layer of the bowel. If left undetected, it would have continued to spread through her body.
“The free bowel cancer screening test saved my life, I didn’t have any symptoms and felt completely healthy,” she said.
After Helen’s tumour was removed, she had three months of chemotherapy with treatment finishing in October 2022, seven months after she did the bowel cancer screening test.
“I had a false sense of protection by my misunderstanding of bowel cancer, and thought because I had no family history, no symptoms and was in good shape I wouldn’t get this disease. I was very wrong,” she said.
Helen encourages everyone who is eligible to make sure they do the test every two years when it comes in the mail.
“We’re very lucky that we have this free national program,” she said.
“Bowel cancer can be treated successfully if it’s found early. Don’t assume you aren’t at risk. A 10-minute screening test is nothing in the scheme of things when you think about what can happen if it goes undetected.
“We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to look after our health.”
When his latest test kit arrived in 2021, he put it to the side again and ignored it like he had the other kits that had come since he turned 50. Gordon had no symptoms, was maintaining his active lifestyle and was only 56 at the time.
However, his wife Toni, who has repeatedly participated in the bowel cancer screening program, found the kit hidden at home and wrote on the outer packaging “Just Do It!”
Once he opened the kit, he realised it was even easier to complete then he thought and was a bit embarrassed he had put it off for so long.
A few weeks later, Gordon was surprised when the result came back ‘positive’ – that blood had been detected in his poo sample. The report said the finding could be due to things other than cancer, like haemorrhoids, but he needed to see his doctor who would organise a colonoscopy straight away, which this time he didn’t put off.
The colonoscopy revealed a large tumour in his bowel and pathology tests showed it to be cancerous. Gordon underwent surgery within a week of that visit which fell on his 30th wedding anniversary.
The size and position of the tumour required the surgical removal of half of his bowel, but thankfully the cancer was caught at Stage I, meaning it hadn’t yet spread.
“The test had detected blood in my sample despite me not having any symptoms and being in otherwise very good health. But the cancer was there, lurking in my innards. If I’d been smart, less stubborn, less arrogant, and had done the test years earlier, the early-stage polyps could have been nipped in the bud and things would never have progressed to the stage that they did.”
Gordon has plucked up the courage to tell his story, because the message is so important.
“I’m so grateful to be here, to be with my family and friends, and especially with those within my workplace who supported me throughout and allowed me to recover and thrive,” Gordon said.
“I’ve been lucky to have a dedicated and talented surgeon, medical care that Australia should be very proud of, and the beneficiary of a National Bowel Cancer Screening Program that saved my life.”
Despite living a healthy and active life, Ann was shocked to learn her bowel screening test had returned a positive result.
“I’ve always been diligent about participating in screening programs for breast, cervical and bowel cancer, and they have always come back clear,” she said.
That was until 2017 when she was surprised to learn blood had been detected in her most recent bowel screening test. Ann followed up with her family doctor, who referred her to a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy.
“I had none of the risk factors for bowel cancer – I was a fit and active 58-year-old who ate a healthy ‘Mediterranean’ diet, drank alcohol in moderation, with no family history of bowel cancer, and no symptoms,” she said.
“I was very shocked when the colonoscopy revealed a large tubulovillous adenoma with high grade dysplasia – in layperson’s terms, a cancerous polyp.”
The polyp was successfully removed during Ann’s colonoscopy. Her gastroenterologist explained that this type of polyp could lead to bowel cancer and that she was very fortunate it was caught at an early stage.
Since then, Ann has had two further colonoscopies, which have both come back clear.
Ann worked as a university professor for 30 years. Now retired, Ann enjoys being active, doing art and volunteering in her community. She was grateful the kit helped her find the polyp early to ensure she was still able to spend time with her family and friends.
“Instead of living a full and busy life, enjoying adventures with my partner of 30 years, and celebrating my adult children’s important milestones, I would have been dealing with the trauma of bowel cancer."
Ann is now encouraging others to not risk their lives and do the free bowel screening test as soon as it comes in the mail.
“We’re so fortunate in Australia to have access to public health screening programs for some of the most common cancers,” she said.
“My plea to anyone who reads this is that when that bowel screening test comes in the mail, just do it! And you never know – it could be a lifesaver.”
As part of our 2023 bowel screening campaign, we spoke to Victorians about their experiences with bowel screening and bowel cancer. Listen to their stories below.