By: Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ Why are millennials developing colorectal cancer when we live in a country with tests available to prevent it? Believe it or not, every day seemingly young and healthy people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s receive the life-changing news that they have colorectal cancer. In 2020, the most up-to-date data
Tag: colorectal cancer
By: Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ When I checked in for my first colonoscopy at age 38, the health journalist in me couldn’t help but ask the nurse this as my first question: “Am I the youngest person you’ve seen in the waiting room today?” She nodded her head and responded, “Yes, you are.” My response:
By: Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words “colorectal cancer”? For some in their 20s, 30s, or early 40s, the response is: “that’s an old man’s disease.” Not anymore. Over the past three decades, colorectal cancer has continually become a millennial disease too. Not because
By Melissa Schenkman, MPH, MSJ It’s a subject you just don’t want to talk about. Anything related to our gastrointestinal tract (GI), the part of your body that digests food, absorbs nutrients, and expels waste, (to put it kindly), seems to be something best kept behind closed doors. But you can’t escape the headlines highlighting