58 is too late

The HSE BowelScreen programme starts at 58. But bowel cancer doesn’t.

In Ireland, 1 in 10 bowel cancer diagnoses now happens in someone under 50. The number of under 50 diagnoses has been climbing for 25 years. And yet the state screening programme won’t reach you until you’re nearly 60 – if it reaches you at all.

People are being diagnosed late. Late means harder to treat. Late means worse outcomes. Late, sometimes, means not coming home.

If you’re 45 or older, don’t wait for an invitation that may never come. Ask your GP about bowel cancer screening at your next checkup. Ask every year. Make it a habit.

And if you have symptoms right now – blood, changes in bowel habit, persistent bloating, unexplained weight loss – don’t wait. Go to your GP today and ask for a FIT test. You may need to pay for it. Do it anyway. There is no age too young for bowel cancer.

58 is too late. We need to do better.