TROY, Mich. – It may sound pretty funny, but it’s aiming to educate people and potentially help save lives.
On Tuesday (March 8) at Troy Beaumont, a massive inflatable colon was set up in the lobby, and as our Evrod Cassimy shows us in the video player above, it drew plenty of attention.
“I have Crohn’s disease,” said Erica Jones.
Jones says a colonoscopy nearly saved her life. On Tuesday, she’s encouraging others to get one too.
“It’s very important, Jones said. “There’s so many things going on with the stomach nowadays. It could be coming from food, or it’s hereditary.”
March is National Colon Cancer Awareness month. On Tuesday, the team at Beaumont Troy drew attention to colon health with an inflatable colon and medical professionals standing by to answer questions in an effort to save lives.
“If you diagnose the cancer and you find it early, you can get it treated a lot simpler,” said Jennifer Hudson of Beaumont Health.
The inflatable colon sits in the atrium of Beaumont Troy Hospital, and patients were actually able to walk right through it and see what a colon looks like on the inside.
“This is just different shapes of polyps,” Hudson said.
Oncology Certified Nurse Navigator Hudson walked us through the colon. She explained that one in 23 men and 25 women would be diagnosed with colon cancer. Getting screenings starting at age 45 can be life-saving.
“The prep is not that difficult,” Hudson said. “You listen to your doctor, you do the prep the day before, and you go in for your colonoscopy the next day.”