Colon Cancer Coalition expects 5,000 for 2008 5K Run/Walk in Edina


Date Posted: 03/13/2008

"Get Your Rear In Gear" for Colon Cancer Awareness

Colon Cancer Coalition expects 5,000 for 2008 5K Run/Walk in Edina


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2008

Bloomington – Cheer for Your Rear. Buns on the Run. Paige's Posterior Posse. The team names may be unusual, but the message is the same – catch colon cancer early and you have a 90 percent chance of survival.

Glenda's Gift. Beth's Brigades. The Colleenoscopy Crew. Rothman's Rears. Larry's Legions. These teams honor lives lost too early to the nations number two cancer killer, colorectal cancer.

Screening for colon cancer is not funny, it's life saving. Thousands of people will gather at Southdale Center in Edina for the 4th annual Colon Cancer Coalition "Get Your Rear in Gear 5K" run and walk to celebrate survivors, encourage those still battling, remember those we've lost, and plead with all to get screened for colon cancer – today!

When detected in its early stages, colon cancer is one of the most preventable of all cancers. "One in four of the patients we screen has pre-cancerous polyps," notes Dr. John Allen, gastroenterologist and chief medical director at Minnesota Gastroenterology, P.A. "Regular screening tests, such as colonoscopy, are vitally important to find and remove polyps that can lead to cancer. Partnering with the Colon Cancer Coalition helps heighten public awareness about the value of routine colon cancer screening."

The Get Your Rear in Gear 5K event has continued to grow and bring together those personally touched by the disease to help convince others that screening is life saving. Darby Hendrickson, former Minnesota Wild and Golden Gopher hockey star, has joined this year's campaign. Along side his brother and sisters, Darby is stepping up to get the word out. "My dad is now a 2-year survivor of this disease and is doing great," Hendrickson says. "My sister-in-law's brother is still fighting it every day. My family, along with our entire Hendy-Lennon team, does all it can to make people understand how important screening is, not just at the 5K, but all year round."

Every year colon cancer kills more than 56,000 Americans – 43 percent of those diagnosed. Remarkably, as the second largest cancer killer, the disease is completely preventable and treatable if caught in the early stages.


Contact: Cindy Iverson
952.426.6521