The other day I was listening to various stories about celebrities with breast cancer, lung cancer, etc and it got me to thinking... I wonder how many famous people have had colon cancer? So I started looking it up and several of the people surprised me.
The most shocking to me was Audrey Hepburn. AUDREY HEPBURN! Considered one of the most classy actresses to ever live died of one of the most shunned cancers. Who would have thought?
Elizabeth Montgomery, best known for her role as Samantha on the hit TV show "Bewitched", also died of colon cancer. She actually battled it twice before it took her life when she was in her 60s.
Jack Lemmon, actor, died of colon and bladder cancer in his 70s.
Walter Matthau, actor, had metastatic colon cancer but died of heart disease.
Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers, died of colon cancer.
Ronald Reagan, the President I was named after, fought colon cancer and eventually recovered.
Sharon Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer in her late 40s and recovered. She is still cancer free today.
And most recently, Farrah Fawcett died of colon cancer. Her fight was chronicled in a documentary.
With all of these celebrities having suffered from colon cancer, why is there not more awareness being raised? Is it because most of them didn't make it? It seems Sharon Osbourne is the only one still alive. But even the people who did not win their battle, they have families... couldn't someone stand up and fight for this? Breast cancer has a voice with tons of celebrities including Christina Applegate, even testicular cancer has a voice with Lance Armstrong... colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths... it needs a voice too!
I really hope that someone that is in the position to stand up and raise awareness for this cause will. The public (and physicians) needs to know that colon cancer is not just for people over 50... anyone can get it.
Ok, end rant.
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