My Health Counts!
Colorectal Cancer Screening Saves Lives!

Colorectal cancer is one of those subjects nobody likes to talk about. Of cancers that affect both men and women, colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the United States, but it doesn’t have to be. Every year over 142,000 new cases are diagnosed and over 51,000 people die of the disease. If everybody aged 50 or older had regular screening tests as many as 60% of those deaths could be prevented.

Buffalo native Susan Hunt hosts an informative, upbeat conversation with two colorectal cancer experts. Dr. James Corasanti, a gastroenterologist with the Buffalo Medical Group and medical director of the GI Endoscopy Unit at Buffalo General Hospital, and Dr. Kelli Bullard Dunn, chief of Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Division of Colon & Rectal Surgery are both featured in the program.

We’ll show you how to take control of your health and reduce your risks. Colorectal cancer screening saves lives!
“On average, one in 11 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer. It’s extremely common. Everyone’s at risk at some point in time,” said Bullard Dunn. “The most significant risk factor for developing polyps and colorectal cancer is age. 90% of these cancers are diagnosed in people who are older the age of 50. Now that doesn’t mean that younger people can’t get colorectal cancer, but it’s much more common over the age of 50. For that reason, in average-risk individuals, we recommend starting screening at the age of 50.”

The program also includes personal stories from people touch by colon cancer, including WGRZ-TV reporter Heather Ly, whose mother died at age 58 from colon cancer.

“My mom felt fine. She looked fine. And six weeks from the day she was diagnosed, she died of colon cancer. Just because you look fine, just because you feel fine, doesn’t mean you are fine,” Ly says in the program.

Heather Ly, WGRZ-TV Reporter, lost her Mom (age 58) to colon cancer. Learn more about Heather’s story here.

“If everyone who should be screened is screened, we potentially could decrease the number of cancers by up to 60 percent,” Bullard Dunn says in the program.

“The rule is there are no symptoms with colon polyps or early cancers. The importance of screening is to look for those polyps before they would ever cause symptoms or have a chance to turn into cancer, thus preventing the disease,” adds Corasanti. “It’s estimated that up to half of adults age 50 or older—the age group at greatest risk for developing colorectal cancer—have not been screened appropriately.”

The My Health Counts! series is hosted by Susan Hunt. Susan Hunt began her broadcast career in Buffalo, New York, first as a radio news and sports reporter for WGR-AM radio and subsequently as Sandy Beach's news sidekick on WHTT-FM. However, it was her stint as co-host of PM Magazine that, to this day, resonates with Western New York audiences. Since then, Susan has hosted and produced numerous TV programs related to important health issues.

Susan is joined by Dr. James Corasanti and Dr. Kelli Bullard Dunn.

“I felt fine. I would never have thought anything was going on in my body.” I knew what a colon wa

but I didn’t know about no colon cancer; or to have this test done at a certain age.”
Betty (Green, Buffalo, NY), - routine screening found a large, dangerous, pre-cancerous polyp. That screening may have saved her life.

Learn more about Betty’s Story here

“That colonoscopy could be what saves your life.”
Walter Kolmetz, colon cancer survivor. Learn more about Walter’s story here