Honoring All Moms This Mother’s Day

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Community Blog
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Fight Colorectal Cancer Celebrates and Honors All Mothers on Their Special Day

A mother is a complex person. She can be as gentle as a rain shower or as fierce as a hurricane. Join us in taking time to revere and remember amazing moms who use their superpowers for good. When they unleash their fierceness, they make the world a better place through their tenacity and by being relentless champions of hope. Cheers to all moms! Happy Mother’s Day!

Mary Schmid: Honoring the Legacy of Her Daughter Influenced Gov. Hutchinson To Sign Colorectal Cancer Screening Bill 

Mary Schmid’s daughter, Robyn Schmid Tiffee, was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) just one month after her 31st birthday, after several years of being misdiagnosed. Sadly, Robyn passed in April 2017. Before and after her daughter’s passing, Schmid was an engaged advocate with Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC). Recently, Schmid was one of many advocates who shared their stories to influence Arkansas policymakers to lower the CRC screening age from 50 to 45, among several changes. Governor Hutchinson signed the bill into law on April 21, 2021. 

It never occurred to the Schmids that Robyn could be facing cancer, and none of the many doctors they saw ever suggested it. After a relentless two-year fight, Robyn passed away at age 33, four and-a-half months after her wedding day. 

Since then, Schmid has not stopped fighting in Robyn’s honor. She joined Fight CRC as an ambassador and advocate. In 2020, when Fight CRC advocates could not go to Capitol Hill, Schmid took action online and showed her support.

“I’m a relentless champion because advocacy gives me hope, and it’s how I’ve continued being a voice for my daughter Robyn,” she said. “Even though we didn’t go to Washington, D.C., I virtually raised my voice on Hill Day and have continued to take action. I’m pleased to see that stories like my daughter’s are getting noticed and remembered on the Hill, and that early-onset colorectal cancer is starting to influence policymakers’ decisions.”

Schmid also has shared her story with Arkansas policymakers as part of the effort to lower the CRC screening age from 50 to 45 and remove cost-sharing when a patient has a positive stool-based screening test. These efforts have been part of Fight CRC’s Catalyst Program, which granted Arkansas $25,000 to advance legislation to increase access to CRC screening and help save lives. Arkansas is one of eight state grantees to receive funds through the program. The initiative provides funding and expertise to help states advance legislation and policies geared toward increasing CRC screening rates.

Schmid and the entire Fight CRC community is celebrating the recent passage of ACT 779. 

“Fight CRC applauds all the incredible CRC advocates in Arkansas that helped get this important legislation over the finish line. CRC is one of the few cancers that can be prevented if caught early, and it is more important now than ever that we remove barriers and increase access to this lifesaving screening,” said Fight CRC president Anjee Davis. 


Amanda Houston and Her Mom Survived Colorectal Cancer: Now They Advocate for More Research

Amanda Houston is a mom of two, caregiver for her mother, and stage II colon cancer survivor, diagnosed at age 34. Since her diagnosis, Houston has not stopped raising awareness in her local community, as well as nationally. As a patient with early-age onset colorectal cancer (EAO CRC), which is colon or rectal cancer in patients under age 50, Houston is alarmed by recent data in a JAMA publication, where the authors predict that, "For the age group 20-49, colorectal cancer (CRC) was estimated to become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2030." Houston will participate in Fight CRC's upcoming Rally on Research, a global event focusing on what needs to be done to further EAO CRC research, so other moms like her, and her own mother who is also a survivor, can avoid the same pain. 

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Houston’s story is unique. After experiencing several symptoms, she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with stage II colon cancer in her early 30s. Although Houston didn’t think the disease ran in her family, she urged her mother to get screened. It was lifesaving. Three months after Houston’s diagnosis, her mother was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer at age 60. Today, both Houston and her mom are in good health.  

“I remember watching her strength and determination during her own diagnosis and her positive attitude through surgeries and treatments,” said Houston of her mom’s fight with the same disease that threatened her. “No matter what news she received from her doctors, she was ALWAYS more nervous about my scans and blood work than her own. So many times, she said she was glad she was the one going through a stage IV diagnosis and not me. She didn’t speak her advice; she showed me.”

The mother-daughter duo’s story is a beacon of hope to families across the country, and it highlights the importance of families discussing CRC and knowing if it runs in the family. Houston’s story also shows that anyone, at any age, can get CRC. 

Approximately 90% of CRC cases occur in people over age 50, like in Houston’s mom’s case. However, since the mid-1990s, the number of new cases of CRC in those under age 50 has increased by around 51%. Sadly, there’s been incremental increases of 2% per year in patients younger than age 55.


Nicole Lorenz, Mom of Five, Advocates for Others While Battling Stage IV Cancer 

Nicole Lorenz is a newlywed, mother to five children, stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) fighter, and advocate, who is relentlessly using her voice to create policy change for others. 

Lorenz is a mentor for Call-on Congress and she hopes to see her story, and the stories of other patients around the country, influence lawmakers to support research funding in June.

Lorenz was diagnosed in January 2017 after complaining several times to her doctor about stomach pain, cramping, and bloody stools. She was repeatedly told her symptoms were probably hemorrhoids caused by her pregnancies.

In 2019, as a Fight CRC Ambassador, she shared her story with recordnet.com about why she’s hoping to inspire young ladies, such as herself. A relentless champion of hope, Lorenz keeps fighting for herself and her family.

Now, in 2021, she continues to face an intense treatment regimen led by doctors at UCSF and Stockton Hematology Oncology. She has had more than 100 rounds of chemo, Cyberknife (radiation) and three surgeries. “At this point, everything we are doing is prolonging my life. I’m hoping long enough for a cure or until my kids are of age,” said Lorenz. 

While she’s balancing a full plate between fighting cancer and parenting her children, she continues to advocate with Fight CRC. She advocates and shares her story because she does not want anyone else to have to go through what she has gone through. In a recent social media post, Lorenz shared a photo showing the scars from her liver surgery in February 2020, “I’m starting to love the new me, but some days it’s hard to look at myself as I mourn the old me.”

The Fight CRC advocate community, currently rallying for Call-on Congress, is the one thing  helping her mourn and find community and acceptance for her experiences. Call-on Congress brings together CRC survivors, caregivers, and loved ones from across the country to advocate for policy change and research dollars for CRC. This year, the organization kicked off Call-on Congress through a virtual celebration in March. Weekly training modules have been released, helping advocates get prepared to meet with their members of Congress. Call-on Congress will culminate June 14, 2021, with a Day of Action where Lorenz, and hundreds of other CRC advocates from across the country, will log on virtually to meet with members of Congress and share stories, ask for support and explain why it’s critical that everyone work together to get to a cure.

“I continue to advocate, despite everything, because I do not want anyone else to go through this. I fight in memory of the ones I’ve lost and teach my kids never to give up,” said Lorenz.