Lesa Fontaine with Georgia Governor Nathan Deal

Since President Clinton issued the first Presidential Proclamation recognizing March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month over a decade ago, each year in March advocates request that their state and city officials issue proclamations acknowledging March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

This year was no different – except for the fact that we had more states and cities than ever proclaim March Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and it was all thanks to Fight Colorectal Cancer advocates.

Seventeen states and four cities and counties issued proclamations – and each one was accomplished because at least one advocate stepped forward and took the lead.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank every person who pushed for a proclamation this year. They are:

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Cindy Robinson

Fight Colorectal Cancer advocate Cindy Robinson of Virginia has successfully petitioned her governor, Bob McDonnell, to proclaim March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. This is the second consecutive year that Virginia has issued such a proclamation as a result of Ms. Robinson’s activism.

Since President Clinton issued the first Presidential Proclamation recognizing March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month over a decade ago, each year advocates request that their state and city officials issue proclamations acknowledging March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. 

Ms. Robinson followed the easy steps laid out in Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Proclamations 101 advocacy call to action and sent the request via email according to Virginia’s guidelines. She also contacted her local state senator, Jill Holtzman Vogel, to put in a good word with the governor’s office.

We thank Virginia Govenor Bob McDonnell, Senator Jill Vogel and advocate Cindy Robinson for recognizing the need to raise awareness about colorectal cancer and taking the first steps needed to accomplish that task.

Get your Governor to declare Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in your state. Visit our Proclamations 101 page for easy instructions.

Almost half of the colorectal cases in the United States are diagnosed at late-stages of the diseases when treatment is more difficult, according to a new report released today by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC). Significant findings of the study “Surveillance of Screening-Detected Cancers (Colon and Rectum, Breast, and Cervix) — United States, 2004-2006” include:

* Incidence rates of late-stage colorectal cancer increased with age and were highest among black men and women.
* Late-stage colon and rectum incidence rates ranged from 51.0 to 86.5, and were highest in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

“This report causes concern because so many preventable cancers are not being diagnosed when treatment is most effective,” said Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. “More work is needed to widely implement evidence-based cancer screening tests which may lead to early detection and, ultimately, an increase in the number of lives saved.”

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