A legacy of colon cancer becomes a gift of life
Karin Miller and her mom, Sue Rofidal, received the gift of life in the form of a colonoscopy
Karin Miller, a 39 year-old advertising sales executive from Edina, Minnesota, never thought that her greatest inheritance would come in the form of a disease. But the awareness that came from her grandmother’s experience with colon cancer saved Karin’s life. And she now refers to that legacy as a gift.
Karin doesn’t come from a large family, but she and her relatives have always been close. Her grandmother’s diagnosis and subsequent passing from colon cancer was the first real family tragedy that she experienced. Karin was a teenager at the time. Unlike many families, Karin’s talked openly about her grandmother’s experience and about health issues related to the disease. Shortly after her grandmother’s death, Karin’s mother began having symptoms of her own. Physicians assumed that it was stress, related to recent family events and initially did not recommend a colonoscopy. Karin’s mom was 40 years-old, well below the typical screening age. But the symptoms persisted and so did Karin’s mother, who finally went in for the screening procedure. Karin and her mom talked about the colonoscopy prep and also about the fact that Karin would need to begin her own screenings at a young age. The test revealed a cancerous polyp which was removed. Now, at 64, Karin’s mom remains healthy.
Karin went in for her first colonoscopy at the age of 33. The test revealed a healthy colon. For her second screening at age 38, she chose to take a day off work in order to be comfortable during the prep. But to her disappointment, the prep was completely uneventful. “I was actually annoyed,” she says laughing, “I took the whole day off of work and it was really no big deal. There are so many things in life that are harder than colonoscopy prep!”
The second colonoscopy revealed a 3/4 inch abnormal polyp which was removed during the procedure. Her physician told her that if she had waited to get screened, even until age 40, the particular kind of polyp that they removed would have become an aggressive form of cancer. Karin knew, from her grandmother’s experience, that the cancer could have taken her life. Karin talked tearfully about the relief she felt.
“When I got the news that it was not cancer “yet”, I really thought of it as a gift. A gift of Knowledge that my grandma gave me. A gift that she was never given. And if it were not for her having cancer and going through what she did, I would have had cancer too.“
From now on, Karin will get a colonoscopy every year. She sees the screening procedure as an opportunity. Very few people think of a colonoscopy as a gift, but it is easy to see why it is for Karin, and why she believes it should be for others. “I feel like I have this great chance, a great opportunity that my grandma didn’t have.” She understands the apprehension felt by many others who would prefer to avoid the discomfort of the procedure and the fear of receiving bad news, but she says, “you have to walk into the fire, once you get past it, it’s okay.”
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I was lucky in a very similar fashion to Karin’s.
My father died of colon cancer at age 66…a few weeks after my 25th birthday
He was a surgeon and VERY adamant that we all get tested once we were older. He explained that we each had a 50% chance of getting colon cancer so advised: GET TESTED.
In my early 30s I had a lot of GI distress. I was living in Boston at the time and saw 3 Harvard educated doctors at Mass General- all of who dismissed me entirely. They insisted my symptoms were stress.
When I moved back to Milwaukee, I saw two more doctors who also wrote it off as ‘stress’
I refused to back down because of what my father advised me.
After 5 consults I finally got a sygmoidoscopy (DO NOT LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU- there is no anesthesia and it hurts beyond measure!) In any case…after experiencing excruciating pain the doctor casually stated ‘you have polyps and other abnormalities, you need to see a specialist’
DUH!
I did see a specialist and like Karin I had polyps that would have become cancerous had I not had them removed.
Be your own advocate! Your life depends on it!