NED (No Evidence of Disease) and Dress In Blue on March 6th!

I am thrilled to tell you that you don’t have to wait until Thursday to find out the results of yesterday’s CT scan and blood tests. I got the call from Dr. Fisher this afternoon informing me that there was no sign of cancer and that I remain in remission. He also said that as a little gift to me, I don’t have to travel to Stanford on Thursday to meet with him, since as far as he was concerned, I was doing just fine. A huge thank you for all of your praying and positive thoughts. They must have really worked for me to get the information 2 days early!

So – now that I can breathe a huge sigh of relief, I am going to launch into my National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month celebration. I have a great first activity – to promote Dress in Blue Day on March 6th. The purpose of Dress in Blue Day is to promote awareness about colorectal cancer and encourage people to get screened.

The following bullet points from the Colon Cancer Coalition outline very clearly why it is so important to raise awareness of Colorectal Cancer:

• Colorectal cancer is the #2 cause of death in the U.S.
• This year in the United States, colorectal cancer will kill as many people as breast cancer and AIDS combined.
• Over 150,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year.
• Colorectal cancer often has no symptom at all until it’s at an advanced stage.
• Colorectal cancer is 90% preventable when detected early.
• You can reduce your risk through regular screening.
• Beginning at age 50 (or earlier if you have a family history), everyone should be screened for colorectal cancer.

So – I know that my family will be wearing blue on Friday (the girls are already picking out their outfits) and I encourage you to do so as well. In fact, please encourage everyone you know to wear blue this Friday and then each of us can contribute in our own small way to raise our world’s awareness of this dreaded disease.

If you are interested in reading more about the Dress in Blue Day movement or would like ideas about how to effectively spread the word, please go to http://www.ccalliance.org/news_events_dress-in-blue.html.

Happy National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month!! (I’m so relieved that I’m starting mine cancer-free…)