Yorkshire Cancer Research: ‘Bowel screening is the reason I am here today’

The now 73-year-old, from Roundhay in Leeds, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021, after it was detected through routine screening. She had no symptoms.

“Cancer always feels like something that happens to other people, and that it’ll never happen to you, so when I was told I had bowel cancer it was a real shock,” she recalls.

“I had no symptoms and wouldn’t have had any idea that I had bowel cancer if it wasn’t for screening. Thanks to this, my cancer was diagnosed early, and the treatment was well planned, which meant that the cancer could be successfully treated.”

Diane had chemotherapy and surgery and was also given a temporary colostomy. “I’m now over two years on from being diagnosed and I am exactly the same as I was pre-diagnosis. I’m back walking, doing yoga, and just loving life,” she says.

Mum-of-two Diane is a supporter of Yorkshire Cancer Research, an independent charity that funds screening programmes and research trials with the aim of detecting cancer at an earlier stage, when typically there are more treatment options available.

It supports research to help encourage people to attend their screening, as well as finding new ways of treating bowel cancer, and improving existing treatments for people who have been diagnosed.

In Leeds, the international ‘FOxTROT’ trial, led by researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham, is exploring whether giving people with bowel cancer chemotherapy before surgery can help improve survival rates.

The study is among a large amount of research funded and supported by YCR, which currently has around 25 active clinical trials running to test new and improved diagnostics and treatments.

Other examples include the Protect-C trial, investigating the risks, benefits and feasibility of introducing genetic testing for hereditary cancers for all women, and the IMProVE trial, which aims to provide crucial evidence needed to introduce a national screening programme for prostate cancer.

Over six years ago, Sheffield hair and scalp consultant Russell McFarlane asked to be screened for the disease after hearing that men of Afro-Caribbean ethnicity were more likely to get prostate cancer.

The now 64-year-old, who is half Jamaican and half British, later underwent a prostate specific antigen test, which showed the PSA protein level in his blood was raised, which can indicate a problem with the prostate. Further scans showed that he had prostate cancer.

Russell, who was diagnosed just before Christmas in 2024, is being looked after by James Catto, Professor of Urology at the University of Sheffield and an Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, who is leading the IMProVE trial.

Russell says: “Jim said to me I’ve probably had this cancer for five or 10 years based on their studies and the size of the mass. I’ve always tried to look after myself and I feel great. But it just shows that you can keep yourself looking good on the outside, but you don’t always know what’s happening on the inside. That’s been a real wake-up call.

“It’s something you’ve got no control over, but the sooner you can get diagnosed with it, the more options you have. If men are able to be screened for it, it will either eliminate any worry or make men aware that there is something happening that needs to be addressed.”

Stuart Griffiths is the Director of Research, Policy and Impact at YCR, a charity that marked its centenary last year.

“The reason we exist as a charity and the reason we need to be here to help is because we have higher rates of cancer in Yorkshire,” he explains. “So the incidence rate - the number of people getting it - is higher than most other places in England and the mortality rate sadly as well is also higher than most other places in England.”

He continues: “We want to continue to work in partnership with universities and hospitals in the region to increase the clinical research capacity so that when we think things can be implemented, we can get them into clinical trials and therefore clinical practice as quickly as possible.

“To do that, we’ve got to continue to be funded well…and quite frankly, without the support of the people of Yorkshire, we can’t fund anything. My biggest hope is that we can continue to grow, continue to do more and continue to bolster Yorkshire into its position of being a world leader for clinical research.”