Let Me Introduce Myself

Let me take a minute to introduce myself. I am Julia Gibson, a twin mother, wife, accountant, scrapbooker, card maker, jewelry maker, nap sneaker, MBA candidate, and a mommy blogger at Mom on the Run x2.  I have taken over managing the Susie’s Cause blog and will be bringing you articles and information about colon cancer and colon cancer research.

I wanted to share my story with you on how I came to find Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation. In December of 2012, my husband began having severe cramps/pains in his lower stomach. He ignored them. Around Memorial Day in 2013, he came down with a “bug.” We went to the doctor three times and each time we were told he had a virus and it had to run its course. Finally, after a week of vomiting and being severely dehydrated, he felt there was something seriously wrong and went to the hospital. Tests came back showing a completely blocked bowel. They rushed him into emergency surgery and removed a 16” section of his colon. The mass was sent to pathology and came back as colon cancer. He was 37. He was immediately entered into a genetic study at The Ohio State University on Lynch Syndrome. (Lynch Syndrome is a hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer caused by genetic mutations.)

During the healing process, in a quest to find all the information I could about colon cancer and early diagnosis, I came across the Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation. It is here that I began to understand exactly what colon cancer was and what the treatment options are. It was here I began to have hope and to feel like we were not the only ones going through this. When I later contacted the Foundation to see if I could help them by spreading the word on my personal blog, I was asked to become the blog manager. I readily accepted.

My husband and I were lucky. They took 16 lymph nodes during his surgery, and all of them came back negative for cancer. He was staged at 2A and did not require chemo or radiation. We recently went for his three month checkup and he was clean. We will continue with follow-ups with the oncologist for the rest of his life.

You can be screened before age 50 (45 for African-Americans). You can seek another opinion if your current doctor won’t listen to your concerns. If you think something is wrong, or you have unexplained pain – go to the doctor, don't wait. You can take steps now to protect yourself from cancer. 

According to research, 50% of colon cancer could be prevented with lifestyle changes and 95% could be cured with early detection. 

My goal for this blog is to help spread the word about screening and treatment for colon cancer. I hope you will join us.

For more information, visit the Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation.