Keeping healthy is important for everyone.  People who have developmental disabilities need to do the same things to stay healthy as everybody else.  This can be hard. Doctors and nurses do not always talk with people who have disabilities about staying healthy.  Doctors and nurses can be very busy fixing health problems. Sometimes they forget to try to stop problems before they start.

Why is staying healthy so important?

• Because we feel good when we are healthy!
• It is easier to stop sickness before it starts. It is harder to make sickness go away once we have it.

Colon cancer is a type of sickness that is very common in people who have disabilities.

• Cancer is what happens when our bodies grow extra pieces inside that are not supposed to be there.
• When cancer happens in the colon, it is called colon cancer.
• Our colons hold our solid waste, or poop, until it is time to let it out of our bodies.

Colon cancer is very serious. It can:

• Make you feel sick.
• Make it hard to eat and drink.
• Cause problems with using the bathroom
• Be very painful
• Sometimes, make you die.

There is some good news. There are a lot of things we can do so we do not get colon cancer. We can also get checked by a doctor or nurse to catch colon cancer in our bodies before it makes us sick.

First, let’s talk about preventing colon cancer. This means we will talk about the things we can do to keep from getting colon cancer.

• The food you eat is very important to keep your colon healthy. Eating a lot of red meat like beef, pork, or lamb is bad for your colon. It is also bad to eat a lot of sandwich meat or hot dogs.
• You can help your colon by eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains like oats, brown rice and 100% whole grain breads. Be sure to speak to your doctor before you make any changes to your diet.
• Keeping a healthy weight, or not having too much fat on your body is also important to keeping your colon healthy. You should ask your doctor what a healthy weight is for your body. Also ask what kind of exercise you can do to lose weight or keep a healthy weight. Even if you are not overweight, staying active is important to keep your colon healthy. Any activity that is more than you usually do may help your colon stay healthy!
• Our bad habits can be bad for our colons, too. If you smoke, try to quit. Ask your doctor what you can try to help you quit. There are special medicines that can make it easier to quit. There is a pill, a skin patch and a special chewing gum. If you drink alcohol, drink no more than one drink a day if you are a woman.  If you are a man, drink no more than two drinks a day.  If you drink alcohol every day, make sure you tell your doctor. Also tell your doctor if you plan to drink less or stop drinking.

Sometimes we can still get colon cancer even if we are healthy. There is good news, though. If colon cancer is found early, doctors can treat it before it has a chance to make us sick.

To catch colon cancer early, talk to your doctor!  Tell the doctor that you would like to know more about getting checked for colon cancer. Usually you start getting checked for colon cancer once you are 50 years old. If someone in your family has had colon cancer, make sure to tell your doctor or nurse. They should talk with you about getting checked for colon cancer sooner.

There are a few different ways that you can get checked.

• The most common way is to have a test called a colonoscopy. The day before the test you will drink a special drink or take some medicine. This will make you empty your bowels, or poop. At the test you will be given medicine to help you relax and sleep. The doctor will look inside your colon with a small camera.  The doctor will look to see if there is any colon cancer. If there is cancer that is still small, the doctor will remove it. The doctor can also remove any small polyps. Polyps are pieces of your colon that look like they might turn into cancer.  This test should be done every 10 years. If colon cancer or polyps are found, you will need to have this test more often.
• A sigmoidoscopy is like a colonoscopy. But, it doesn’t look at your whole colon. This test uses a small camera. It looks inside the lower part of the colon, called the sigmoid colon. Sometimes this type of test is easier for people to have. You do not need to drink the special drink or take medicine that makes you empty your bowels, or poop. You also usually do not need medicine to make you relaxed and sleepy. This test should be repeated every 5 years.
• There is a new type of test called Cologuard. You do not need to drink a special drink or take medicine first. You can do this test at home. First, you collect a small bit of solid waste, or poop. Then you send it in a special kit in the mail. The kit checks your solid waste, or poop, for a change in a chemical called DNA. This change may mean you have colon cancer. Then you’d need to have a colonoscopy to check for sure. Not everybody can have this kind of test. You should not have this test if you have had colon cancer. You should not have this test if you have colon problems. You should not have this test if somebody in your family has had colon cancer. This test should be repeated every 3 years.

Maybe you have read all of this and you are thinking that keeping colon cancer away sounds like a lot of work. Or, maybe you are having a hard time deciding what to do first. The most important thing you can do is talk with your doctor! Tell the doctor that you would like to stay healthy and keep colon cancer away. Doctors and nurses love to help people stay healthy. Sometimes they just need a friendly reminder about checking for colon cancer!

For more information, visit:

The American Cancer Society

https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/understanding-tests-that-screen-for-colon-cancer.html

Colon Cancer Alliance

https://www.ccalliance.org/get-screened/prevention-and-screening/