Northern Partnership Looks To "Wipe Out Colon Cancer"

By: Nick Liard

Everyone above the age of 50 should be getting screened for colorectal cancer…that’ the message a new campaign by the Northeast Cancer Centre hopes to get out this month.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and the cancer centre has partnered with 15 Loblaw pharmacy’s in Northeastern Ontario for a campaign titled “Wipe Out Colon Cancer.”

The Loblaw pharmacy’s will provide customers with information about screening tests.

Judy Field is a colon cancer survivor and is cancer free since 2010, she says she ignored the tests and now hopes everyone doesn’t make the same mistake.

Last year alone it’s estimated 8 thousand 9 hundred Ontarians were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and 34 hundred died from the disease.

A recent report says 43 percent of people over 50 in Northeastern Ontario were overdue for their screening tests for colorectal cancer.