Colorectal Cancer Awareness

There is a channel that moves through the body,

coursing, deeper than breath,

and sometimes along its winding passage,

a holler pools where the flow slows.

💙💙💙

Do not look away from the holler.

It asks only to be seen, to be acknowledged

for the light of knowing is the first offering of mercy,

the first piece laid along the path to care.

💙💙💙

March wraps itself in teal and blue,

colors of sky after rain,

of the world renewed each time a voice

says firmly, clearly, go, be checked, be known.

💙💙💙

Early, the channel can clear again.

Early, the holler dissolves under attention.

A single question asked, a single door opened

how small the key that unlocks a life.

💙💙💙

And for those already walking this way,

whose days are measured in worry and waiting,

know that you do not walk it alone

hands reach out, they wait.

💙💙💙

Medicine moves through, finding new ways,

carving passages through what seemed fixed.

Research is a channel,

carrying hope toward what can be saved.

💙💙💙

Speak of it freely, the way currents speak

without shame, without silence, without pause.

Each word shared joins,

each story told is a life preserved.

💙💙💙

The body is brave. The body endures.

The body is worthy of attention.

And though the path may wind through difficult ground,

it bends, always bends, toward what can heal.

Author's Note: Let us be the light for one another.

Let us be the light that carries them home.

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in the US, but when caught early (Stage 1), the 5-year survival rate is over 90%.

Screening is recommended starting at age 45 for average-risk individuals (lowered from 50 in 2021).

It affects both men and women almost equally.

More than 60% of deaths could be prevented with regular screening.

Young-onset cases (under 50) have been rising in recent decades.

Early detection truly saves lives.