Have you been putting off your colonoscopy?
Following the passing of longtime Detroit sports voice Jamie Samuelsen, who died in August at the age of 48 after battling colon cancer, Local 4′s Hank Winchester decided to make an appointment for a colonoscopy.
A week before Samuelsen passed away, he urged people to make the appointment and get checked out. Early detection is key in any cancer diagnosis.
Winchester, who is in a similar age group, decided to document the experience, to show those who may be avoiding it what the process entails.
Watch Hank’s video blog in the video player above to follow his journey.
The rate at which people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the US is dropping among people 65 and older but rising in younger age groups, according to research from the American Cancer Society. In 2020, 12% of colorectal cancer cases will be diagnosed in people under 50 – about 18,000 cases.
Rates have been increasing since the mid-1980s in adults ages 20-39 years and since the mid-1990s in adults ages 40-54 years, with younger age groups experiencing the steepest increase.
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