My father was diagnosed in 2003 with Stage III colorectal cancer. My father immigrated to this country in the 1970’s and worked construction to support our family.

My father was always one of the strongest and toughest individuals when I was growing up. This was the only time in my life that I saw my father vulnerable/weak while he was going through treatment. My father was diagnosed at age 63 and he will be celebrating his 84th birthday this year.

When my father was told that the surgery and chemo treatments worked, I always wanted to give back to the colorectal cancer community. I did a good amount of work with Relay for Life but I wanted to do more specific work. When I turned 30, I have my first colonoscopy and doctors found and removed my first polyp. If it wasn’t for my family history, I probably would have never even known what a polyp was, and wouldn’t have had one removed at age 30.

Since then, I’ve gone every 3 years for a colonoscopy. Again, this past December, they found and removed another polyp. In 2021, along with my good friend Erik Lecomte (who lost his mom to colorectal cancer), we founded Champions for Colorectal Cancer Inc – a 501c3 Connecticut based non-profit that looks to increase awareness of CRC in younger generations, provide advocacy to those affected by CRC in CT, and raise funding for research.