Relay Pushes Exams for Colorectal Cancer Week

           While the May 19-20 Noble County Relay For Life can be a fun activity for participants, they never lose site of the real reason for this American Cancer Society event: fighting cancer.

            That’s why the Relay’s March 14 Team Captain meeting came with a reminder that March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, a time to remember that colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of the disease in males, and the fourth leading cause in females.

            Although colorectal cancer can have no symptoms, the good news is that routine screenings can lead to early diagnosis and treatment. That’s why anyone over the age of 50 is encouraged to have regular screenings, such as a colonoscopy, blood test, or CT scan.  About 150,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States every year.

            Colonoscopies are especially useful because during the procedure doctors can remove polyps that could develop into cancer, in addition to finding the disease itself. For the patient, the procedure is simple – and they sleep through it. The procedure is recommended every 5-10 years for anyone over 50, or earlier if there’s a family history.

            More information about colorectal cancer can be found here:

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/ColonandRectumCancer/MoreInformation/ColonandRectumCancerEarlyDetection/colorectal-cancer-early-detection-what-is-crc

            The web page for the Noble County Relay for Life contains information about forming teams, and assisting with the Relay:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?sid=128433&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=38499

For further information contact Noble County Chairperson Carla Fiandt at Community State Bank in Albion, by e-mail at carlaf@csbemail.com, or by phone at 260-636-3744; or e-mail Team Recruitment Chair Stacey Lang at esclang@hotmail.com.