The Gloria Borges WunderGlo Foundation aims to put the spotlight on the ominous trend and sharp rise in colorectal cancers in young adults in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. Through our website, events, and other programming, WunderGlo has a goal to bring this awareness to the forefront.
Cancers of the colon and rectum have been declining in older adults in recent decades and WERE typically considered rare in young people. However, scientists are reporting that this has changed dramatically.
Young people with colorectal cancer also run the added risk of a getting a diagnosis later in the course of their disease, when the cancer may be less treatable, because doctors typically don’t consider the diagnosis at such a young age.
“People born in 1990 have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer” compared to the risk someone born in 1950 faced at a comparable age, said Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society and the lead author of the report, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The vast majority of colorectal cancers are still found in older people, with nearly 90 percent of all cases diagnosed in people over 50. But a new study from the American Cancer Society that analyzed cancer incidence by birth year found that colorectal cancer rates, which had dropped steadily for people born between 1890 and 1950, have been increasing for every generation born since 1950. Experts aren’t sure why.
Rectal cancers are rising particularly sharply, far faster than cancers in other parts of the large intestine or colon. The American Cancer Society estimates about 13,500 new cases of colon and rectal cancers will be diagnosed in Americans under 50 this year, with more than 95,500 cases of colon cancer and nearly 40,000 cases of rectal cancer in all age groups.
Colorectal cancer rates have declined over all in recent years thanks to widespread use of screening tests like colonoscopies, which can detect precancerous polyps that can be removed before cancer develops. These screening tests have not been considered practical for a younger population, and while other less invasive screening tests exist, doctors are hoping improved methods that will be easier to administer will be developed.
Through “Too Young – Too Cool for Colon Cancer”, The Gloria Borges WunderGlo Foundation seeks to bring awareness to the younger population to encourage early-screening for those under age-50, while continuing to raise funds for cutting edge research to improve testing methods and treatment efficacy, and to one day eradicate colorectal cancer completely. Cancer, Your Time Is Up!