New Paths to Stopping Colon Cancer Now – Colonoscopies are Step One
Have you ever wondered why I promote colon cancer screenings so strongly? Because colon cancer kills – and colonoscopies are the best way to prevent this deadly disease. But did you know that Stage IV colon cancer only has a 6 percent 5-year survival rate? Thankfully, for those in the future who don’t catch their colon cancer early enough, there is research being done that could lead to powerful new treatments.
“Genetic Aberrations Seen as Path to Stop Colon Cancer” is the title of a recent New York Times article. What does that mean? It means that amazing people, who are way smarter than me, have been able to identify gene pathways/changes that make colon cancer grow and thrive. By knowing these exact gene pathways, new medications can be created to treat colon cancer and existing medications can also hopefully be used as treatment.
For example, the colon cancer study that was published in Nature found that colon cancer shares gene pathways with breast cancer and melanoma (skin cancer). That means drugs already on the market used to treat these pathways in breast and skin cancer might also be able to treat colon cancer patients.
The possibility of helping selected colon cancer patients with drugs that are already on the market “is actually thrilling,” said Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Raju Kucherlapati in the New York Times article.
On StopColonCancerNow.com we reveal that many cases of colon or colorectal cancer have no symptoms or warning signs until the cancer has advanced. While treatments are available, prevention is always your best bet.
So yes, my mission is to increase awareness on the importance of colon cancer screenings, because I don’t want anyone having to deal with colon cancer. But more importantly, the ultimate goal is to see no lives lost to colon cancer. So, I am thankful for those who are smarter than me, working to defeat colon cancer once it has already grabbed hold of peoples’ lives.
So if you are of screening age or have certain colon cancer risk factors, find a physician and you’re your screening colonoscopy. Don’t become a statistic.
If you need more convincing, please read “Remembering a Mother Lost to Colon Cancer,” or if you need help convincing a friend to get screened – send them an encouraging eCard.
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