WCCO Radio: colon cancer as dinner conversation?
In a recent WCCO News Radio interview, Kristin Tabor, Founder and President of the Colon Cancer Coalition talks about her goal of making colon cancer a topic that Americans can comfortably discuss. “We want to do for colon cancer the same thing that happened for breast cancer,” she says, referring to the fact that twenty years ago, the topic of breast cancer was considered taboo. But with increased awareness, came increased screening and increased survival rates for that disease. Tabor’s goal is to do the same thing for colon cancer in a shorter period of time. She tells Dr. David Hilden, the host of Healthy Matters, that words like “colonoscopy” and “colorectal” make people uncomfortable, and this often becomes a barrier to proper screening. “We’d like to make (these words) dinner conversation,” she says laughing. Hilden agrees saying that “people need to talk about this kind of stuff.” He continues, “It’s really important that you talk to your family members and your loved ones. It is not just a disease for old people.”
During the course of the radio interview, Hilden also interviews Dr. Jeffrey Morkin, a colorectal surgeon about issues related to colon cancer and screening procedures. Listen to the full interview and hear Dr. Morkin answer listener questions and address common concerns about screening and treatment.
