Paddy Gower is on a mission to get the NZ Government to lower the bowel cancer screening age after having his own unexpected scare.
In the latest episode of ‘Paddy Gower Has Issues’, the Kiwi journo put his own body to the test with a colonoscopy screening from one of the country’s leading colorectal surgeons, Frank Frizelle.
Turns out, doing just that could have saved his life.
Within the first few seconds of the examination, Frizelle found two pre-cancerous polyps (abnormal tissue growths), one of which was a suspected adenoma.
For Gower, it hit heavy. “My mother died of cancer, and getting cancer is one of my great fears,” he shared via Stuff. “So hearing this from Frank was quite triggering for me.”
“He spent about half an hour having a look around my bowel, and then got inside me with some sort of instrument he called a “crocodile” and nipped the two polyps out.”
Frizelle confirmed that if left to grow in the dark, damp depths of Gower’s bowel, one would’ve almost certainly become full-blown cancer in 8-10 years.
It turned out the first polyp was truly dangerous.
The current screening age for Kiwis is 60 - soon to be lowered to 58.
At just 48 years old, Gower said he didn’t experience one single symptom, so given the time frame before his first necessary screening, cancer could have developed into a serious risk.
“By the time you reach the national bowel cancer screening age of 60, you may well have missed the boat,” Frizelle told Gower.
“That’s the problem with bowel cancer,” Gower added. “Without screening, there’s really no way of knowing. And once bowel cancer advances, it is usually terminal. There is a 90% chance of death.
Gower let that sink in.
My colonoscopy was a total fluke - but it likely saved my life.
Across the ditch, Australians can get checked from 45. Lowering the age is here in Aotearoa is something Gower is really pushing for, especially now that he’s had his own scare.
During the leaders’ debate back in 2023, Gower questioned both Chris Luxon and Chris Hipkins on matching Aussie’s screening age. They both said yes, but so far, under National, nothing’s changed.
Meanwhile, around 20,000 Kiwis are stuck waiting for colonoscopies, many of them already showing symptoms.
Gower got extremely lucky with his colonoscopy that may have saved his life - and he’s not mucking around about making sure more Kiwis get that same shot at survival.
