Me speaking at the Lensic Performing Arts Center before 800 of my closest friends, knees knocking. . .

For those of you who follow this website with some regularity, or if you’re read my About Me page, you already know that my Big Why is raising money for Fight Colorectal Cancer. And why is this my Big Why?

Because I am a Stage IV colon cancer (with mets to my liver) survivor. Three years ago, I spent a night in the ER, thinking that I needed an appendectomy. I had NOT had a single day of symptoms until the day that I drove myself to the ER from Urgent Care.

I thought I was the healthiest person in the world. I was 51, only a few months past the suggested screening age.

What a CT scan and subsequent colonoscopy found was that I had a 5.5 cm tumor eating through my colon wall, as well as a corresponding 4 cm tumor on my liver. For the metrically challenged out there (of which I was one), that means the size of a large plum and the size of an apricot. It was a miracle that I was still alive.

Here’s a link to the blog Fight Colorectal Cancer wrote about the recent benefit. Suffice it to say that I survived and am now thriving. And desperate to alert other folks to the need for screening, research, and laws that take care of appropriate screening and health care.

Check out the great blog post. Take care of yourself. And Get Screened. Get Screened. Get Screened.

If you have questions, or if someone you know is impacted by this disease, email or call me with questions. This is what I do.