Jennifer's Colon Cancer Story
- Jennifer Jones, 50, is a former Radio City Rockette who was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2018.
- Colon cancer is commonly treated with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy; Jones underwent chemo and surgery.
- This disease is highly curable, that’s why screenings done via colonoscopy are extremely important; you should start screening for colon cancer at age 45 if there is no family history of the disease.
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She says in the interview that until she was diagnosed, she always thought of herself as healthy; the dancer was active, ate well, and took care of her body. After beating this disease, Jones is giving back: She’s part of a “buddy program” that matches colorectal cancer patients with survivors.
Jennifer’s Colon Cancer Story
Jones was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2018. Of her early symptoms, she tells TODAY in a new interview, “I felt bloated, gassy, and I thought I should go for a colonoscopy.” Jones was told at the time she had just five more years to live.
Related: Colon Cancer: Overview
She then began an aggressive treatment path, which included surgery, eight rounds of oral chemotherapy and six rounds of IV chemotherapy. Doctors declared her cancer-free in January 2019, and Jones remains an example of the importance of listening to your body and taking action.
Related: "You Shouldn't Die From Embarrassment": Colon Cancer Can Be Prevented
Screening for this disease is critical. For people with no family history of the disease, you should begin screening at age 45. You should start screening even earlier if there’s a history of this type of cancer in your family.
In an earlier interview, Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon and surgical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, says, “Colon cancer is considered a silent and deadly killer. What happens is people often don’t know that they have colon cancer.”
Related: Colon Cancer Screening Options And Genetics: Myth Busting With Dr. Heather Yeo
“You should be screened for colon cancer, even if you have no family history. Once you have your initial screening colonoscopy, if there are no polyps and you have no high risk factors, usually once every 10 years is fine. Colon cancer is a slowly progressing cancer,” says Dr. Yeo. “If you have any family history of colon cancer, you should be screened about 10 years before your family member had colon cancer. So if you have a family member that was 53, you should be screened at 43.”
Getting a Colonoscopy
Colon cancer screening is conducted via colonoscopy, which looks for small white growths called polyps. The majority of polyps are pre-cancerous. Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai says in an earlier interview, “When we’re looking at a colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening, what we do is we’re looking for polyps, which are these small growths. When we see a polyp, we actually physically take the polyp out through the colonoscope.”
“What does that mean? That means we basically put a wire through with a little bit of a little flange at the end and we pull the polyp out,” explains Dr. Murrell. Now, note there is no pain with that. Inside the colon, there are no pain fibers. So there’s no pain. What happens is then when we take the polyp out, we send that to a lab. So when it’s in the lab, a pathologist basically cuts up the little polyp and looks under a microscope.”
Related: Lowering Your Risk for Colon Cancer
“And underneath the microscope, they can decide whether or not it is early cancer or whether it is just a precancerous polyp,” says Dr. Murrell. “95% of polyps are precancerous polyps. And what does that mean? That means that it’s not a cancer yet. But it would have been a cancer ultimately if you just let it grow and grow and grow.”
Looking for Polyps During Colonoscopy
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