“I would like to tell my experience with colon cancer to encourage people who have digestive issues to get it checked out by a doctor. I was having problems with weight loss and digestive issues for about eight months and had lost 25 pounds in that time.  My gastroenterologist suggested I have a colonoscopy since it had been 8 years since my first one.  During the procedure he found a polyp growing in the wall of my intestines and suggested I have it removed.  I underwent surgery at which time they removed a foot of my intestines and it was cancer.  I finished chemo in February, 2016 and so far all of my follow up test have come back clear.  I was in the lucky 41% of cases that were found early and I was 49 years old at the time.  The doctor told me that a key sign of colon cancer is unexplained weight loss.  My message is that if you are having digestive symptoms and unexplained weight loss, go see your doctor.”