Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion by the member for Shortland. I congratulate her on the motion. Bowel cancer is an issue that is particularly significant to me as a close family member, my mother, was diagnosed with bowel cancer many years ago—close to 20 years ago, in fact. We as a family are certainly very grateful that her bowel cancer was detected early. June is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. One of the highlights of the month takes place this Wednesday, 19 June, which is Red Aussie Apple Day. I congratulate Bowel Cancer Australia on their work and on this particular initiative. The Red Aussie Apple Day is a very clever use of the humble apple. The apple pin itself, available to mark the day, is symbolic of the bowel cancer message.

I will quote directly from Bowel Cancer Australia's website as they have a very succinct explanation of the apple pin that is part of the promotion of bowel cancer awareness. Its purchase will support the work of Bowel Cancer Australia. Bowel Cancer Australia says:

The 'apple pin' symbolises our bowel cancer message.

The outline of the apple logo appears as an abstract of a human colon.

The small hole in the centre is caused by a worm. If detected early and removed, the worm is unable to infect and kill the otherwise healthy apple.

It's the same with people—if bowel cancer is detected early through screening it can be removed and people can continue to enjoy a healthy life.

As has been demonstrated firsthand by my mother, if bowel cancer is detected early it can be removed—as was the case with mum. She along with many other people who had their cancer detected early have gone on to live a healthy life.

Australia, unfortunately, has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world. It is the second biggest cancer killer after lung cancer and around 14½ thousand Australians will be diagnosed with bowel cancer this year which is far too many. There will be almost 4,000 Australians who will die from bowel cancer every year. It is one of the most curable forms of cancer when it is detected early, but sadly less than 40 per cent of bowel cancers are our detected early. One of the issues that faces us with early detection is that bowel cancer can develop without early warning symptoms or symptoms can be overlooked or dismissed by the individual. The question is: what are the symptoms that we should be looking for? They include a recent, persistent change in bowel habit; blood in the stool; frequent gas pains; bloating, fullness or cramps; stools that are narrower than usual; a lump or mass in the tummy; weight loss for no known reason; persistent severe abdominal pain; vomiting; and feeling very tired.

In the case of my mum, the only symptom that she had was tiredness. She found that by about 10 am she needed to go and have a lie down because she was just exhausted and worn out. For a woman in her early 60s, as she was at the time, that would certainly be unusual, and it was very unusual for her. Fortunately, she went to her local GP, who did a blood test and found out that she was anaemic. She then went on to have a colonoscopy, where they found that she had a tumour and she was operated on shortly afterwards, and the tumour was removed. Fortunately, mum has been clear of cancer ever since. Given that early detection is so important and sometimes the symptoms are vague or nonexistent, I believe that screening is certainly essential and it is essential even more so for those who are at particular risk. That includes those who are aged 50 years and over; those who have had an inflammatory bowel disease; those who have previously had polyps or adenomas in the bowel; and those who have had a significant family history of bowel cancer polyps. The risk is significantly increased where there is a family history of bowel cancer, if a close relative developed bowel cancer before the age of 55, or if more than one relative on the same side of the family has had bowel cancer.

I certainly encourage everyone to participate in the screening program and to follow-up their symptoms—do not just ignore them.

See this speech in context