Early detection critical with colorectal cancer

Editor:

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and many of us will remember recent news of those who have died from this disease, including actors Chadwick Boseman and Kirstie Alley, and soccer great, Pelé.

But the Cancer Services Program (CSP) of GOWN wants to remind you of different news about colorectal cancer: getting screened can help you survive this disease or even prevent it.

Colorectal screening tests can alert health care providers that precancerous growths, called polyps, may be forming. These polyps can be removed before they turn into cancer. Regular screening for colorectal cancer can help find it early when it may be easier to treat. Colorectal cancer has a 91% survival rate when found early.

Screening for colorectal cancer begins at age 45. If you are age 45 or older, talk to your health care provider about getting screened. If you do not have a health care provider or health insurance, the CSP is ready to help. We offer free colorectal cancer screening to uninsured people ages 45 and older and can connect you to a health care provider if needed.

Screening for colorectal cancer can be done at home and it’s easy! The CSP uses a stool-based screening test that gets mailed to a lab. We will pay for a follow-up colonoscopy if the test comes back abnormal. If cancer treatment is needed, we help our clients enroll in the Medicaid Cancer Treatment Program.

The CSP can help you get your colorectal cancer screening.  Don’t wait.  Call us at 716-278-4898.

Wendy Armstrong

Program Coordinator of Cancer Services Program of Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming and Niagara Counties