screening test

He added he hoped his work for the charity would encourage more men to get a screening test "which will hopefully prevent further needless deaths".

Ms Wesson, 43, and her partner Mr Everson, 47, were expecting their first child when in January 2019, a blood screening test indicated their baby had a high chance of having a chromosomal abnormality.

Neeta Vora, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and clinical geneticist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who wasn’t involved in the study, hopes this discovery will heighten awareness among obstetricians who are prescribing this screening test daily, and who may not realize the potential gravity of certain results for their patients.

She said in August her cancer had been discovered "unexpectedly during a screening test" and urged anyone who was "avoiding a test or putting off an appointment" to get checked.

At Birmingham Women’s Hospital, which is already offering the screening test, Dominika Nanus, 38, told me it was a “no-brainer” to take part in the study, having seen it advertised on a poster during an antenatal appointment.