Bowel cancer patient’s bid to end diagnoses in A&E

A mother-of-two with stage four bowel cancer is campaigning to stop emergency diagnoses after she was told she had the disease while she was on her own, with no family to support her.

Sana Shaikh, 32, said it was “devastating” to receive her stage three bowel cancer diagnosis in an accident and emergency department.

She is set to address a parliamentary reception at Westminster on Thursday as part of a new Bowel Cancer UK campaign.

Figures from the charity show one in four people with bowel cancer are diagnosed after they seek emergency treatment for their symptoms, which means the cancer is often more advanced and survival chances are lower.