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Cancer check critical

by Marlon Madden
4 min read
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Men in Barbados are being encouraged to take the issue of colon cancer more seriously and get screened for the disease.

This call has come from colon cancer survivor Graham Bannister, who had a scare two years ago.

What is more, the private security official is throwing his support behind Government for placing a tax on sweetened beverages and calls for them to be banned in schools, saying it was important to help children develop healthy eating habits from an early age.

“The move now to take those kinds of foods out of schools is a fantastic move. It starts with young persons and what they are given to eat at school. Replace them with healthier food, snacks and drinks,” suggested Bannister.

He believes there is a need for more education on the issue of colon cancer. He also said that with screening so expensive, Government and insurance companies should do more to assist the less fortunate.

A colonoscopy can cost up to $4,000.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer globally and Barbados has the eighth highest rate per 100,000 among both sexes, and the sixth highest rate among men according to the American Institute for Cancer research.

Describing the statistics as “staggering”, Bannister said he was concerned men were still wary of getting tested despite some effort over the years to spread awareness.

“When I talk to men and tell them get the screening they tell me ‘not me, no man not shoving any tube up my [anus]’. But colon cancer is a preventable cancer,” he said.

“If you don’t treat it early enough and if you don’t know that the cancerous polyps are in your colon it can develop into cancer overtime and if you do nothing about it then it grows outside the colon and grows inside the muscles and then go into vital organs,” he warned.

“Once you have the screening and you get rid of those polyps you are pretty much cleared of the cancer,” he added.

The Cancer Support Services member, who is already gearing up for colon cancer awareness month in March, said he was pleading with residents to get screened for the disease, engage in more healthy eating habits and exercise.

“I find that in Barbados we need to have more education about it. But the biggest issue is the provision of medical services for persons to get colonoscopies. They are not cheap. I was fortunate to have insurance through the company I am working in,” he said.

“To get screening you need to have that commitment from Government and from insurance companies that we will cover you. We should have clinic coverage. In other words, you should be able to go to any clinic you want to and say ‘I am here to do a colonoscopy’ and an insurance company will cover you somehow,” he said.

Bannister said he was engaging the Ministry of Health and Wellness in discussions in that regard.

He is also hoping to set up a foundation to assist individuals who want to get tested but are unable to afford it.

“It is my goal to form a foundation that will source funds to be there and managed by a group of prominent businessmen . . . and if somebody needs to have a colonoscopy but they don’t have the funds the foundation will assist them,” he said. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

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