About Colon Cancer: From the Series: ‘My father’s battle with colon cancer.’

My father died of
colon cancer 3 years ago
and now, for my 10 grade
personal project, I’m rasing
money and awarness
for the disease.
Your colon is a
big last part of the digestive
system, and is also
known as the large intestine.
Our colon’s job is to
absorb water and harmful
wastes from the foods we
eat. The colon has four
main parts: ascending
colon, transverse colon,
descending colon, and
sigmoid colon (as shown
in the picture below).
Cancer (in general)
is a disease where
the cells in your body
multiply rapidly and don’t
die off. This is harmful to
our bodies because when
there is an excess amount
of cells that keep growing
and don’t die, they
can cause tumors to form.
Tumors can be benign
(which means that they are
not cancerous and can be
easily removed) or malignant
(which means they
are cancerous and have
a possibility of spreading
and infecting other
organs).
Colon cancer is
when tumors form and
grow on the inner walls of
any part of the colon. This
can be very dangerous
(and in most cases deadly)
to people who have colon
cancer because the cancer
can spread easily to any
part of the body. Colon
cancer is the 3rd most
common cancer in men,
and 4th most common
cancer in women, but it
isn’t as addressed as the
other cancers, such as
prostrate or breast. These
statistics have been calculated
and they show that
colon cancer has been the
reason for 40,000 deaths
in America every year.
That’s 10% of America’s
deaths!
It’s our job to
keep ourselves healthy and
active to avoid the disease.