GRANDFATHER Michael Sims believes his life was saved by a simple home test cancer kit.

Mr Sims, an ex-paratrooper, is certain that if he had not decided to take the free bowel cancer test, his days “would be numbered”.

Each year, approximately 350 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Oxfordshire and 150 people die of the disease.

Mr Sims, from Kidlington, said he had never experienced any symptoms or problems but decided to make use of the free test which landed on his doormat in February.

The 68-year-old said: “When they had received the sample they called and said there were some abnormalities. They said I should come in for a colonoscopy.

“They discovered two tumours, one of which was possibly cancer and one which was probably cancer.”

Mr Sims was operated on immediately and on Tuesday he and wife Lesley were told he had been given the all-clear.

The grandfather-of-five is now set to undergo precautionary chemotherapy.

He said: “In my case, if I hadn’t taken the test my days would be numbered.

“At the moment I’m out of the woods, but I am still in the programme so will now be checked every six months. I’m streets ahead of someone who may have bowel cancer but isn’t aware of it.”

The Department of Health has given NHS Oxfordshire, the county’s primary care trust, £600,000 to spend on a bowel cancer screening programme over the next two years.

Everyone aged between 60 and 69 – the most likely age group to contract bowel cancer – will be sent kits, which include three ‘windows’ where three separate stool samples should be placed.

They are then sent back in a freepost envelope to a laboratory where the stool samples are checked for blood.

Helen Savage, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals screening centre manager, said since the programme had started in January, the centre had sent out 13,000 tests.

So far, it has received 5,500 back.

She said: “The earlier the cancer is picked up, the better.

“If cancer is picked up at an early stage, survival rates are as high as 95 per cent as opposed to a five per cent if it picked up in the later stages.”

Dr Tom Porter, consultant in public health for NHS Oxfordshire, added: “This is a simple test that really can save lives.

“Although some people may find it a little embarrassing, it can be done quickly and hygienically in your own home. Early treatment saves lives.”