Dirty job well done (From Leigh Journal)

Dirty job well done

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I AM a great supporter of preventative medicine, so when an NHS envelope dropped on my doormat inviting me to take part in a bowel cancer screening programme I decided I would.

The test kit arrived this week and this is used to detect tiny traces of blood, invisible to the naked eye, in bowel motions.

The idea is to smear two samples from three different days on a card and send it to the lab for testing.It’s not a very easy or elegant task to complete, but should be worth the trouble in the end.

I certainly wouldn’t like to be the lab technician who has to open and test the samples, but where would we be without scientists willing to do such a dirty job.

Everyone should take up all offers of life saving screening. It’s a bit worrying waiting for the results, but it’s no use shunning them and thinking these things will never happen - because they do.