Scott Hancock

Story: "In May 2018, I began to have pain in my right side. My GP thought that maybe it was gas, or possibly a gallbladder issue, or something related. I had an ultrasound, but it found nothing. An MRI was ordered, which I had in June 2018. After waiting for the results for two weeks, I reached out to my GP to ask if they had learned anything. They called me back a few hours later and told me that there was something found, but they wanted to do a CT scan to verify. I had the scan in early July, all along thinking that it was not anything serious. After the CT scan, I got a call out of the blue from a gastroenterology office to schedule an appointment. This surprised me, but I went along with it.

"At the appointment, which was late July, I was told that it may be cancer. My wife was with me. We scheduled a colonoscopy, which happened on August 1, 2018, and we verified that I had stage IV colon cancer. My wife and mother were with me when we got the news. The CT scan had also shown that I had three large cancer masses in my liver (10.6 cm, 9.6 cm, and 4.8 cm long), which is where the original pain was coming from."

"The best treatment is early detection. The earlier the better."

Advice: "I like to openly talk about my cancer journey and attempt to remove stigmas that I see with cancer. Educating the public about cancer, treatments, challenges, etc. can only help in our fight against cancer. Also, recognizing caregivers is essential. They often get left out of the discussions, but they are often heavily impacted by a loved ones' diagnosis and treatments. They must not be forgotten."