The initiative, which kicks off next week, is designed to highlight the importance of regular bowel scan testing in the community and to make test kits available at an affordable price to encourage participation.

Kits can be bought from the Cowra Rotary Club table, located in the Cowra Plaza from Monday, May 7 till Sunday, May 12 between 9am and 5:30pm each day. 

Kits cost $15 and include pathology testing, post and results to your nominated doctor, with the money assisting costs. 

A small price to pay to potentially save your life. 

The confidentiality of the results is assured. 

It is a must for over 40’s and equally important for men and women. 

In 2015, 11 positive returns came from the sale of 450 kits in Cowra, which means 11 people had early diagnosis.

Bowelscan is an Australia-wide Bowel Cancer Awareness Program run by Rotary Clubs and is a not-for-profit initiative.

The Bowelscan project involves the distribution to the public of a low-cost, simple test kit on which is collected small specimens of faeces for analysis. 

Cancer of the bowel is the most common internal cancer to affect men and women in western society.

Bowel cancer screening involves a test for bowel cancer in people who do not have any obvious symptoms of the disease.

Bowel cancer can develop without any early warning signs. 

The cancer can grow on the inside wall of the bowel for several years before spreading to other parts of the body.

Often very small amounts of blood, invisible to the naked eye, leak from these growth and pass into bowel movements before any symptoms are noticed.

Australia has the world's highest incidence of bowel cancer - 1 in 12 (for both men and women). Age is an important factor - the risk begins at age 40, doubling every five years until age 60 and even more rapidly as the person gets older.

Statistics show 90 per cent of bowel cancers can be successfully cured if detected at an early stage.

Early detection leads to an improved prognosis and less severe treatment.