When he turned 50, Keith Arian knew it was time to do what everyone his senior has had to do.
He said, “I had my first colonoscopy when I was 50 and that found a cancerous polyp.”
That polyp, or clump of irregular cells, was removed, but 14 years later his cancer returned with a vengeance.
“They found a tumor in my rectum,” he said. “All of a sudden that kind of brings reality right into your face and it was, it was very scary, it was terrifying, there were a lot of tears.”
His story is just one of many. The American Cancer Society estimated that nearly 140,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer this year alone.
Dr. Feza Remzi, a colorectal surgeon at Cleveland Clinic, said it’s a major health concern in our country right now.
“It’s a very significant problem. It’s the second cause of cancer related death in our country in men and women.”
Colon cancer is actually one of the most preventable of all cancers. Unfortunately; many catch it when it's too late. Doctors tell me that's because patients aren't getting the proper screening at the right time.
“Screening is everything,” said Remzi. “It’s plain and simple. It’s very unfortunate that you lose a golden opportunity like that.”
Arian said, “I think it’s probably the prep is what scares people.”
Remzi said people need to be aware of their family history and pay attention to signs of irregularity, especially African-American men.
“Most of the patients that get this disease ethnicity wise are African-American, but also the highest mortality rate within the groups is also African-American.”
After a series of treatment and surgery, Keith says he’s glad he didn’t let the fear of the process stop him from being informed about his health.
“For that one day of inconvenience or not feeling the way I necessarily want to feel, it saved my life and it certainly was worth it.”
With March being colon cancer awareness month, he also said he’ll continue to spread the word in hopes to help save another’s life.
“At work, I’m a general contractor so a worker, customer says, ‘oh yeah, I just turned 50’ I said, you better go get a colonoscopy. And they said oh yeah, ya know, I don’t want to, and I said, it saved my life.”
While his health is improving, he still has a ways to go, including another surgery scheduled for next month.
