On Saturday 20^th April from 11am-1pm the Manchester Malawi Social Club is hosting a ‘footbowel’ match to help raise awareness of the importance of bowel cancer screening.

Captain of the team Chiwe Themba Sikeswe explains “Sadly one of our pastors died of bowel cancer. It is not something that is often talked about amongst our African communities, but we want to encourage people to take up the free bowel cancer screening available to them. This could help to prevent us losing other members of our community prematurely.”

Health Development Coordinator for Manchester Local Care Organisation, Bethan Galliers added “Bowel cancer screening is offered in Manchester to all people aged between 56 and 74. The offer will soon include people aged 50 plus. The kit is delivered to your home address, only takes a few minutes to complete and then you need to post it back to the lab. The results arrive back quickly. In the vast majority of cases the result will be ‘no further test required’ and you will receive your next kit 2 years later. If it comes back as ‘further test’ needed you will be offered an appointment to discuss next steps.”

The footbowel event is a fun way to get an important message across. As of April 2023, the uptake of screening for eligible patients in Gorton and Levenshulme was 54% and this is a figure we want to increase.

Don’t put it off!! Come and cheer the guys on at The Powerleague Manchester Central, 20 Union St, Manchester M12 4JD.