By LUKE VOOGT
Geelong nurse Kimberly Rice has three simple words to fight bowel cancer: “Take the kit”.
“A simple smear can save your life,” she said.
Kimberly dedicated her life to fighting bowel cancer as a theatre nurse after both parents were diagnosed two decades ago.
The timing of their diagnoses was the difference between their outcomes, she said.
Kimberly was 13 when mum Joan was diagnosed, aged 47, after experiencing lower abdominal pain and a change in bowel habits.
Joan saw her GP immediately then had surgery to remove a large section of her bowel.
“This was almost 20 years ago and mum’s now considered cured,” Kimberly said.
Three years later her father, Keith, noticed bleeding and appetite and weight loss but put off testing.
“He said it was nothing to worry about, probably just haemorrhoids,” Kimberly said.
“He was absolutely terrified of anything medical.”
Keith kept working, failing to visit a GP until seriously unwell. His eventual surgery for bowel cancer was too late.
Keith died two weeks later, aged 61.
“I never want anyone to go through what we experienced as a family,” Kimberly said.
She has now worked as a colorectal theatre nurse for 11 years, assisting daily with bowel cancer surgery.
“There’s nothing more satisfying than knowing I was able to make a difference in a person’s life,” Kimberley said.
The 33-year-old hoped her story could raise awareness about the preventable cancer.
“You never hear about it but it’s the second highest cancer. People think bowel cancer is an old person’s disease but we’re also treating people in their 20s and 30s.”
Ninety per cent of bowel cancers could be cured if detected early, Kimberly said.
She urged readers to buy Rotary’s Bowelscan screening kits for $15, including return postage, at local pharmacies.
The simple, non-invasive kit could be used at home, said Kimberly, who screens herself annually.
