Walking Timebomb – How a routine health screening revealed a potentially-deadly swelling

Walking Timebomb – How a routine health screening revealed a potentially-deadly swelling

When John and his wife Brenda – who have been married for 29 years – had their ultrasound health screenings, they did not expect that John would end up having a lifesaving procedure at King’s College Hospital.

Viewers of the Channel 4 documentary 24 Hours in A&E saw in the first episode, A Walking Timebomb, how John’s screening revealed a potentially-deadly swelling of the main artery from his heart (an abdominal aortic aneurysm). A follow-up ultrasound scan at the hospital confirmed the results of his initial health screening.

Money on health screening was well spent

During the programme, Jacquie Butler, a Doctor at King’s College Hospital who treated John commented that with these sorts of conditions, people “don’t necessarily feel sick” but can have a ballooning of the aorta which “if it pops – that could be the end of you….That health check was worth having. It was money well spent…. Best £140 you ever spent I reckon.”

Find out more about the abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, available now from Life Line Screening for just £60 (or which can be purchased with a comprehensive package including 3 other screenings for stroke and cardiovascular disease risks for just £139) To book, call FREE on 0808 178 8619 or check availability in your area on our website.

John’s story (sent in by his wife Brenda)

The following is an extract from the testimonial John sent us:

“We had been considering a Life Line Screening for a while after my cousin’s wife advised that she and her brother now have regular checks following the death of my cousin some years ago from an aortic aneurysm.

Although John had no symptoms, he had not been very well for a while and when we received a leaflet advising screening would be held locally we booked an appointment.

What a good job we did, as John was advised to go immediately to our Doctor as there was a severe problem with his Aorta. Fortunately we went at once and our GP instantly arranged an appointment for further checks the next morning – they in turn referred us urgently to Kings College A&E for the next morning where test and screening showed an aneurysm of 9.4cm (should be between 2-3cm). It was decided that an operation was imperative but because of the size of the aneurysm it was necessary to courier a special stent overnight and keyhole surgery was necessary as open surgery would certainly be fatal.

GPs within the NHS are unable to arrange scans without specific symptoms and as there are none with this condition had we not had this screening John would certainly be dead today – the medical team said he was a “walking timebomb” and one of the medical team asked how he had discovered this and on being told of the screening asked the cost and then remarked “this has to be the best £140 you have ever spent!”

Apparently the only way this condition is discovered normally is by it showing up during test and screening for other problems.

Since John’s operation, which was successful, we have spoken to many people and everyone has known of someone, family or friends who have either died or been very lucky and the condition discovered by ‘chance’. So we would recommend that anyone who can afford to should take advantage of a Life Line Screening – it could save many more lives. We cannot express how glad and grateful we are that we decided to take up this screening appointment.”

Below is a link to the Lifeline Screening White Paper PDF. This gives some background and some results of previous private health screening and also the results of the survey that went out to users post-screen.

Lifeline Screening White Paper