March is colorectal Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — This month marks a time to remember people struggling with colorectal cancer. 

March marks Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. This is a time to encourage screening and spotlight survivors who have important stories to tell. Reports from the Colorectal Cancer Alliance show the disease is the second deadliest cancer in the U.S.

Anne Heimel is a proud survivor of the disease. She was diagnosed with the illness at 39 years old. 

“I went through 28 chemo, radiation treatments, surgery to remove my rectum in my sigmoid colon and give me a temporary ileostomy,” Heimel said. Six cycles of chemotherapy and then surgery to reverse the ileostomy. So it was about a year-long process.”

Heimel said she is now advocating for others to get checked. 

“If you’re 45 and older and haven’t had a colonoscopy,” she said. “Go out there and get one. If you are younger than 45 and you are having symptoms such as diarrhea or constipation bleeding or pain in your belly, go to your doctor. Insist on a colonoscopy.”

According to the American Cancer Society, there are nearly 1.5 million colorectal cancer survivors in the country, and over 150,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year.