(CBS) Carolyn Chichester is a
53-year-old single woman whose 84-year-old mother is dying from colon cancer.
But it didn't have to be that way,
CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric
reports.
Her mom, Martha Fasciano, was a registered nurse who knew
firsthand that if not caught early, colon cancer has only a 10 percent survival
rate. Though she's a mother of five, a world traveler and a woman brave enough
to get a college degree at age 50, Martha was afraid to have a colonoscopy.
"It's really heartbreaking. And it should never have happened,"
Chichester says.
The
American Cancer Society recommends that all those 50 and over get
screened for colon cancer, but still, only half of those who should do.
Seeing her mother deteriorate has prompted Carolyn to bite the bullet
and get a colonoscopy.
"These kinds of tests are really important. They
really can make a huge difference," Chichester says. "I mean, you never have to
get colon cancer."
A colonoscopy is a two-step process. The preparation
is done the day before to clean out the colon for the procedure the next day.
Chichester is looking for a job, and because she's unemployed, she has
no health insurance. But even if she did, her colonoscopy would not necessarily
be covered. So far, only 19 states have laws requiring insurance companies cover
screening colonoscopies. Almost every state — 47 in all — requires coverage for
mammograms.
But Carolyn is eligible for a free colonoscopy at Stony
Brook University Hospital, one of five hospitals nationwide that offer free
colon cancer screening. It's part of a pilot program funded by the
Centers for Disease Control. It targets those unable to afford
the test, which costs an average of about $1,200.
Early detection of
colon cancer saves lives and money. A recent report from the
American College of
Gastroenterology found that treating a patient in the early stages of colon
cancer costs an average of $30,000 per patient. Treating someone who is
diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer is estimated at $120,000 per patient.
The colonoscopy is done on an outpatient basis and takes less than an
hour to complete. If any precancerous polyps are found, they are removed during
the procedure, preventing the development of full-blown colon cancer.
Dr. Joseph Anderson, Stony Brook's lead endocopist, explains that those
who think they may be invulnerable to colon cancer often are.
"A lot of
people have this misconception that only if you have a history of colon cancer
in your family do you need to have a colonoscopy, and that you have to have
symptoms to have a colonoscopy," he says. "Approximately 80 percent of people
that develop colon cancer have no family history."
Carolyn says the
colonoscopy was "so easy."
Carolyn may still be looking for work, but
she already has a mission that would make her mother proud. "If one person can
hear what I'm saying and decides to go and get a colonoscopy, then what we're
doing is a success," she says.
