Letter: Get screened for colorectal cancer
ISSUE | HEALTH Get colon cancer test March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. One in 20 people will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime, and more than one-third - about 50,000 a year in the United States and 210,000 a year in Europe - will die from it. When it is detected late, less than 10 percent survive the disease for more than five years.
ISSUE | HEALTH
Get colon cancer test
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. One in 20 people will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime, and more than one-third - about 50,000 a year in the United States and 210,000 a year in Europe - will die from it. When it is detected late, less than 10 percent survive the disease for more than five years.
With screening and early detection, the vast majority of these deaths can be prevented. When detected early, more than 90 percent survive.
There are no excuses for not owning your colon health:
The Affordable Care Act eliminated out-of-pocket payments for colonoscopies, which can remove polyps before they can progress to cancer.
Free clinics are available with weekend or evening appointments.
Stool for testing can be collected at home.
Forty percent of adults older than 50 are unscreened. Spread the word: get tested in March.
|Lisa Jensen-Long, Knoxville, Tenn., lisajensen-long@edpbiotech.com