A HIGHLAND lorry driver is keeping on trucking thanks to a life-saving bowel cancer screening kit.
Now David Crombie, 53, of Coull Park, Alness is encouraging people to take part in bowel screening after he was treated successfully for the disease.
Men and women aged 50 to 74 are invited to participate in bowel screening through taking a test every two years. Test kits are sent to people’s homes, together with an instruction leaflet. Once completed, test kits should be returned for analysis in the pre-paid envelope provided.
Mr Crombie’s test kit arrived shortly after his birthday in early January.
He said: “About two weeks before the kit arrived I’d read a story in a newspaper and it said that the kit helped to diagnose the disease early and this gave people a much better chance of survival.
“I’m a typical man and might have put it off if it wasn’t for that story, but it sounded like commonsense to me so I just did it.”
Mr Crombie’s screening test was positive and he was invited to attend Raigmore Hospital for further investigation in the middle of February. This found early-stage bowel cancer and he was admitted shortly afterwards for surgery.
As a result of having found the cancer at an early stage, Mr Crombie did not require any additional treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
He added: “It’s been a rollercoaster year but I am so pleased that I took the test because if I’d put it off for another two years, or waited until I had symptoms, it might have been too late.
“I was feeling fit and healthy when I took the test, I’d no idea I had cancer.”
Mr Crombie had 12 weeks off his work as a lorry driver for D Steven & Son, of Wick.
“They were really good,” he said. “They told me to get myself sorted and come back when I’m fit.”
NHS Highland’s bowel screening co-ordinator, Dr Rob Henderson, said: “I’m really grateful to Mr Crombie for telling his story.
“It demonstrates just how important is it that people take part in bowel screening.”
More information about the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme can be found at www.bowelscreening.scot.nhs.uk, or by phoning the Scottish Bowel Screening Helpline on freephone 0800 0121 833.