INDIANAPOLIS — March is colon cancer awareness month. It's a disease that's not just impacting older Hoosiers. Now, people in their 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with the second deadliest form of cancer.
“Had I not been diagnosed at 47 and waited until 50, this would have been a much different outcome,” said Todd Carlson.
The 48-year-old was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last February after his primary care doctor recommended a routine colonoscopy.
A year later, he is cancer-free and gives all the credit to early detection.
“It was post-COVID, and I had just kind of a moment of true enthusiasm to go to my PCP and get a checkup,” Carlson told WRTV. “He very casually mentioned that the protocol for colonoscopies had changed from 50 to 45.”
The routine screening allowed doctors to catch Carlson’s cancer in stage one.
“It was absolutely the scariest thing you can ever as a human really go through,” he said “I feel really blessed to have caught this early. We would not have caught it at all without the colonoscopy.”
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 150,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer.
10% of them are under the age of 50 and according to IU Health, Hoosiers are dying at a higher rate than the national average.
“Around 2019, surgeons and gastroenterologists began to notice an uptick in people who were under 50 years old,” said Dr. Art Baluyut, a Gastroenterologist at Northside Gastroenterology Endoscopy Center. “Most people think that it has to do with our obesity, the preservatives we have in our food, a more sedentary lifestyle."
Dr. Baluyut told WRTV that colon cancer is the first leading cause of cancer deaths in men and the second in women.
As a result, doctors recommend screenings starting at 45 instead of 50.
“A lot of people who come in and get diagnosed with colon cancer have no symptoms. And that's the dangerous part,” he explained. “I think it's the number one preventable cancer, not only in the U.S. but in the world.”
“I hope that my story encourages somebody, anybody, even one person to go out and get a colonoscopy," added Carlson.
According to the Mayo Clinic here are some symptoms of colon cancer:
- A change in bowel habits - including a feeling that your bowel doesn't empty all the way.
- Rectal bleeding or blood in the stool.
- Ongoing discomfort in the belly area.
- Weakness or tiredness is often an issue.
- Losing weight without trying is also a symptom.
