May: Share the Gift of Good Health this Mother's Day

May: Share the Gift of Good Health this Mother’s Day

With the appearance of May flowers, many of us spend the second Sunday in May celebrating (or remembering) our mothers. Mother’s Day is a day filled with love, lots of pink and a renewed focus on the important women in our lives. One very meaningful way we can honor our mothers, aunts, sisters and grandmothers is to remind them of the importance of scheduling regular screenings for colorectal cancer.

IF YOU:	THEN YOU SHOULD:
Are experiencing symptoms	Talk to your doctor immediately
Have a family history of colorectal cancer or polyps	Get screened at age 40 or 10 years before the age of the youngest case in your immediate family (mother, father, sister, brother)
Are African American	Get screened at age 50
Have a genetic link to colorectal cancer such as Lynch Syndrome, FAP, etc.	Talk to your doctor and get screened before age 50
Have a personal history of cancer	Talk to your doctor and get screened before age 50
Have ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn’s disease	Talk to your doctor about getting screened before age 50
Are African American	Get screened at age 50
Have a genetic link to colorectal cancer such as Lynch Syndrome, FAP, etc.	Talk to your doctor and get screened before age 50

The Colorectal Cancer Alliance offers many helpful resources and links on its website. We think the chart above provides important directions for when to contact your primary health care provider and when to start screening for colorectal cancer.

Celebrate moms and all the important women in your life this month by encouraging them to have a colorectal cancer screening, to be healthy and to schedule an annual check-up with KCHC today by calling 262-221-9493!

The Kenosha Community Health Center also offers access to quality health care-and screenings-for the underserved in our community. It’s our mission to level the playing field and eliminate any barriers to tests or screenings for our patients.

We often hear comments like these from KCHC patients: “I don’t have any symptoms of colorectal cancer. Are you sure I need to be screened?” Our reply: Yes! Colorectal cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms, especially when it is in the early stages. We also have patients who explain that “Colorectal cancer doesn’t run in my family.” We want to make sure that patients and residents in the Kenosha community understand that this type of cancer often occurs in families with no prior history of the disease.