Colon cancer survivor encourages people to get tested

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Meghan Wallace played golf, she breathed a sigh of relief. She’s visiting Tucson from Twin Cities, Minnesota and has been playing golf for years.

She was invited to the Cologuard Classic golf tournament because she’s a colon cancer survivor. The tournament is honoring over 150 survivors, people living with colon cancer and caretakers.

However, Wallace wasn’t always able to play golf.

“Unfortunately last Summer I didn’t get to play. I was going through chemo,” Wallace said.

She underwent 6 rounds of chemotherapy for her colon cancer and later surgery after she was diagnosed in February of last year.

She found out through a Cologuard test and later on a colonoscopy that confirmed it.

“I was very scared. It really just threw me off my game,” she said. “I didn’t have symptoms and it just was really difficult at first.”

Doctor John Shekleton, a gastroenterologist for Northwest Healthcare said some patients don’t have symptoms but people can experience abdominal pain, constipation, anemia, bloody diarrhea and weight loss.

“A routine screen colonoscopy are done at age 45. It used to be age 50,” Shekleton said.

He said people should get tested because the risk of getting colon cancer has gone up.

“50 percent of colon cancer is probably genetic meaning there’s a strong family history of it,” he said.

He said another factor could be related to a person’s diet and said the earlier they catch the cancer, the easier it is to treat it.

Wallace now lives with no evidence of the disease and knows it’s important for others to put their health first.

“If you catch this early enough, you won’t even have to go through that, and believe me, a colonoscopy is so much easier than chemo,” Wallace said.

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