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One of the Deadliest Cancers: Is Someone You Love at Risk?

Did you know that the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women combined is colorectal cancer? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 140,000 people are diagnosed with it each year, and more than 50,000 die from it. Those are some sobering statistics.

The good news? This type of cancer is highly preventable, mainly due to screenings — starting at age 50 — that can often find precancerous polyps and early-stage cancer. Early diagnosis allows treatment to be most effective.

We can each further reduce our risk by staying physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, drinking alcohol in moderation, and not smoking.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and if you are looking for ways to get the word out and encourage screenings among friends and loved ones, Healthfinder.gov has a great toolkit. Web resources and sample communications are available, as well as a quiz that assesses your risk of developing colorectal cancer and a calculator that helps identify how much fiber you should consume each day.

For a first-hand account of how an at-home screening test (yes, they are available!) saved one woman’s life, check out this video from Kaiser Permanente’s Care Stories site.

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