Photo courtesy Methodist Dallas
Colorectal cancer survivors gathered at Methodist Dallas Medical Center last week to celebrate their recoveries with the doctors and nurses who treated them.
Among those grateful patients was Curtis Lynd, who teaches special-needs students in West Texas. Curtis was just 42 years old when he was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer and traveled over 300 miles from Midland to Dallas for treatment.
“It’s good to know there are doctors out there that are able to do amazing things,” he says. “And the nurses, they’re just really there for you. I really appreciate that.”
Thursday’s event, held each March during Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, reunited patients with the doctors and nurses who cared for them. For Curtis, that was Anand Lodha, MD, a colorectal surgeon on the medical staff at Methodist Dallas. The surgeon noted that doctors like him are diagnosing more patients with colorectal cancer in their 30s and 40s, before most people even think about getting routine screening.
“We are seeing a real increase in folks that don’t have the risk factors,” Dr. Lodha says. “These are just regular average-risk people.”
While colorectal cancer rates are dropping for seniors, the rates for adults younger than 50 have doubled since 1990.
“I just see more and more people who are getting it younger and younger,” Curtis says. “It’s important that you’re able to get those checkups, even at an earlier age. This has really inspired me to encourage other people to get checked out.”
Dr. Lodha wants more patients to spread that good advice, noting that colorectal cancer is especially treatable in its early stages.
“Colon cancer is highly preventable, it’s highly curable,” he says. “Do whatever screening test is necessary.”
