In honor of Colon Cancer Awareness month, we want all of our patients, employees, families, friends, etc. to know and understand how important colonoscopies are for your health. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., yet it is one of the most preventable types of cancer. Below, you will read about one of our employees whose father has been diagnosed with colon cancer and the impact it has had on her and her family…
“My Dad went in for emergency surgery on November 5th due to a ruptured colon. He was in the hospital for over a week. In the meantime, we found out that it was actually a tumor that had ruptured. They sent it off and that is when they gave us the results that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer on November 10th.
We were shocked to say the least in finding this out. Prior to his diagnosis, my dad seemed normal and healthy, so it was very hard to accept that my dad had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He had not been having any major problems that would lead us to think he had cancer.
It has been a very hard process for my family to watch our dad go through this terrible journey. The effects that chemotherapy has on his body is sometimes hard to watch. We can definitely see how this terrible disease has taken a toll on him mentally, physically and emotionally. He is a strong man, but one person can only endure so much.
My dad did not have regular colonoscopies, and as a matter of fact, never had one at all. Having a colonoscopy may have prevented this from happening; at the very least, could have kept it from spreading to other parts of his body.
Everyone needs to have a colonoscopy done. This type of cancer is an extremely difficult process to go through and knowing it can be prevented by having a colonoscopy is worth doing it.”
Starr Milhorne, SVCHS employee