Canfield woman tells her journey with the cancer that isn't discussed

YOUNGSTOWN/WARREN

Colorectal cancer is the cancer that isn’t discussed.

Even though colorectal cancer, or CR, is considered preventable and is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States that affect men and women, it often flies beneath the radar.

“The key to survival is early detection,” said Dr. William Lee of Boardman, a board-certified general surgeon who is an advocate of the Colon Cancer Alliance, a national organization that helps raise awareness about CR cancer.

The number of people who are diagnosed with CR cancer and die of it can be reduced by appropriate and early screening, said Dr. Lee, also a ValleyCare Medical Group of Ohio physician and member of the staff of ValleyCare Health System of Ohio’s Northside Medical Center.

Among the CR screening tools is a flexible sigmoidoscopy in which the doctor puts a short, thin, flexible, lighted tube into the patient’s rectum to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and lower third of the colon. A colonoscopy is similar to a flexible sigmoidoscopy, except it checks the entire colon, and during the exam, the doctor can find and remove most polyps and some cancers.

“It’s important that we acknowledge colorectal cancer. The first step is to give attention to it,” Dr. Lee said.

Early detection was not in the cards for Jill Lewis of Canfield, one of Dr. Lee’s patients, who talked about her unexpected diagnosis in June 2014 of Stage 3 CR cancer.

Read more about what led to her discovery of her illness in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.