By JaDonna Harris
At 38, I began to experience pain I dismissed as minor. I was young and healthy—or so I thought. But as months went by, the pain worsened until one morning I woke up and couldn’t move.
That day in 2023, two months after my 40th birthday, doctors found a 7-centimeter mass in my colon, and I realized how wrong I’d been. Stage two, quickly approaching stage three colorectal cancer.
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and I’m sharing my story because colorectal cancer doesn’t care how old you are or what you look like. It can happen to anyone, just like it happened to me.
(Photo Credit: Nappy.co)
Here’s what I’ve learned: Colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among people under 50. And African Americans face the highest incidence and mortality rates amongst all racial and ethnic groups. We are more at risk.
There’s another layer to this that hits harder. Black women are taught to be strong, to push through, to handle it. But our strength doesn’t protect us from disease. Our resilience doesn’t prevent cancer. What protects us is screening, early detection and the willingness to seek care before crisis.
One in three eligible Americans skip colorectal cancer screening, some due to time or inconvenience, others due to medical mistrust rooted in real historical harm.
But new screening methods like Guardant Health’s Shield blood test, the first and only FDA-approved blood test for primary colorectal cancer screening for those 45 and older at average risk, are making screening more accessible and removing real-life barriers.
This March, I’m urging everyone, especially Black Americans, to get screened. Don’t wait for symptoms. Don’t assume you’re too young or too healthy.
Colorectal cancer doesn’t discriminate and there’s no excuse to keep waiting with quick, easy options like Shield available.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.