Knowing what the signs of colorectal cancer are and talking to your doctor about them – no matter what your age – is one of the key messages that Fight Colorectal Cancer President Carlea Bauman conveyed in her recent interview with Comcast Newsmakers.

In the weeks leading up to March, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the Washington, DC, Comcast station is broadcasting this piece to make people aware of the disease, as well as the work that Fight Colorectal Cancer is doing locally and around the country.

Comcast Newsmakers is a unique news program that provides community leaders with a platform to discuss issues and ideas important to the communities they serve allowing them to better connect with their constituents and the community at large. Fight Colorectal Cancer thanks the station for airing this vital public service announcement.

What do they have in common? All are forms of creative expression that cancer patients have used to “add life to their days,” wrote oncologist Evan Lipson, MD, of Johns Hopkins University in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (online edition Feb. 7, 2011).

One of his patients, Mike, was building a stone patio in his backyard because it was “therapeutic, physical, and something I could control and have a sense of accomplishment.”

Among the “unique and remarkable ways that people living with cancer make the most of their time,” Lipson has observed several themes: exercising, leaving a legacy, activism, building relationships, giving. And the most powerful, he thinks, is “creating something.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Today we are pleased to announce that the Colorectal Cancer Coalition is now called Fight Colorectal Cancer.

Our updated mission statement is:
Fight Colorectal Cancer demands a cure for colon and rectal cancer. We educate and support patients and caregivers, push for changes in policy that will increase and improve research, and empower survivors to raise their voices against the status quo.

We’ve changed our name and our look because we have a mission to accomplish and it requires some tough talk. Because when we’re talking about a disease that kills someone every 9 minutes, we want to make sure the person listening to us knows that the status quo is not good enough. We want them to know that there are 50,000 people who will lose their lives in 2011 to colorectal cancer, and that is unacceptable.

Read the rest of this entry »

This critical legislation will ensure that even in tight fiscal times, funding for life-saving federal colorectal cancer research programs can be sustained.

Since President Clinton issued the first Presidential Proclamation recognizing March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month over a decade ago, much progress has been made in the fight against colorectal cancer. Thanks to federally funded research, treatment options for colorectal have expanded to seven drugs, and more precise surgery and radiation.

But despite the research advances we have seen, colorectal cancer still affects far too many American families. Every three and a half minutes, someone is diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Every nine minutes, someone dies from colorectal cancer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Join the Congressional Butt-in TODAY

Sponsored by the Colorectal Cancer Coalition and Prevention Cancer Foundation

• Call 1-866-615-3375 today or tomorrow to reach your Representative and Senators.
• Urge your legislators to co-sponsor the Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act.
• The bill will provide colorectal cancer screenings and treatment for low-income, uninsured and underinsured individuals who are not eligible for Medicare.
• Your three calls will take less than five minutes and could help save thousands of lives.

Read the rest of this entry »