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Over 56,000 men and woman die each year from colon and rectal cancer.

Colon and rectal cancer kills more people than prostate cancer kills men (31,000) and breast cancer kills women (40,800).


In fact, colon and rectal cancer is second only to lung cancer in the yearly number of deaths.

But the truly staggering fact is this can be all changed. YOU can prevent colon and rectal cancer by:

  • Having regular testing performed
  • Making health lifestyle choices

With proper screening and surveillance and a little education, at least 90% of colon and rectal cancer (CRC) cases can be prevented.

That is why we need your help. We need to get the message out to everyone that colon and rectal cancer is a PREVENTABLE disease. We need to get our legislators in Washington to pass bills making early screening affordable and accessible. And we need to get doctors up to speed on screening/surveillance recommendations.

Please explore our site and learn more not only about colon and rectal cancer, but what YOU can do to prevent it and how you can help STOP this needless disease once and for all.

 



The STOP Colon and Rectal Cancer Foundation is a not-for-profit, publicly supported foundation incorporated in the state of Illinois on November 4, 1997. The Foundation’s tax-exempt status was granted on July 17, 1998.


Finding polyps early can reduce the risk of cancer by up to 90%

Over 56,000 men and women will die this year of colon and rectal cancer.

It's staggering to realize, but 51,000---a full 90%---could have lived. And a simple, brief screening procedure is all it might have taken. This preventability is what makes colon and rectal cancer so unique

Unlike so many other cancers, colon and rectal cancer is easily detected and highly preventable. The difficult part is getting everybody---not just people who fall within the higher risk categories---to see their doctor before CRC has a chance to get started.

In fact, the distinction between screening and surveillance is the fundamental basis of STOP’s message:

  • SCREENING: if you are completely asymptomatic (without any symptoms) and you have no history of colorectal disease, you still need to be screened.
  • SURVEILLANCE: If, however, you have previously had polyps removed, have a family history of cancer or polyps, or some other reason which places you in the increase risk category then you require surveillance examinations with total colon evaluation, which is best done by colonoscopy.

We need to make this clear to everybody. That’s why we want your help in spreading the word that proper and appropriate testing can save tens of thousands of lives. Please take a moment to further explore this section on screening and prevention.

  • How It Works
  • Risk Categories
  • Primary Prevention

You might even want to forward certain pages to friends and family. If you’re using Internet Explorer, look under File > Send > Page by Email. If you are using Netscape, look under File > Send Page. If your browser doesn’t support this feature, such as earlier versions of AOL’s proprietary browser, please copy and paste our URL into your mail program and send it to others to help us get this very important message out.



The goal of the Foundation is the saving of over 40,000 lives per year through public awareness initiatives that broaden the use of preventative screening and early detection of colon and rectal cancer, and encourage healthier lifestyles.

Educational initiatives are being created for the public, the physicians and the payors. Some examples of how the message is being disbursed include the broadcast and print media, presentations to professional societies, religious groups, clubs, etc.; audience-specific educational videos, interactive physician education programs, and the Internet. Special employee screening programs are being developed for businesses, civic organizations, hospitals, municipal governments, police, and fire departments.

Finally, the Foundation actively seeks organizations whose goals are similar. By doing so the hope is that a partnership may develop, which will considerably shorten the time to achieve its objectives and goals.