Jodi Simmons is not a man, nor is she 50 years old.
The 40-year-old St. Albert woman has had a pretty healthy life. That's why it's a complete mystery to her why she got colon cancer last year. Up until that point, she had always thought it was a disease connected to older men, and she wasn't alone.
"It was a shock!" said Simmons, who is participating in this weekend's Alberta Cancer Foundation's Underwear Affair, hosted by the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
"When I woke up from my colonoscopy, my doctor was sitting on my bed. I was groggy but I remember having to say to my husband later, 'Was the doctor crying?' She was on the bed crying and telling me that I had cancer."
This all happened at the beginning of last year after she had abruptly started getting sharp pains on the right side of her abdomen. That's another unusual aspect to her experience. She was told that her cancer normally strikes on the left. It turned out to be a large tumour that blocked more than 85 per cent of her colon.
"They told me that … I didn't have six to eight weeks."
Many people think that cancer comes right out of the blue even though there are many factors that make it more likely to strike you: poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, drinking and genetics.
Simmons says these don't apply to her. She always exercised and never smoked. Family history is on her side and she doesn't even eat much red meat. The only thing unusual about her health was a recent and unexplained bout of anemia but the doctors told her that it wasn't uncommon for woman of her age group. There wasn't even a gradual awareness of pain.
It practically hit her overnight and she went to emergency.
"They gave me some Percocet and the pain went away. Two weeks later I was in there having surgery."
The doctors couldn't even explain why she felt pain.
"He said, 'Unfortunately, most people don't even know they have colon cancer.'"
This is why she's frustrated every time she hears a public service message about colon cancer directed to men over 50. Every rule has an exception.
She has now completed eight rounds of chemotherapy and gets annual CT scans and blood tests every three months. She eats more organic food, vegetarian meals and fibre and less white bread and white rice. She drinks freshly made juice and does yoga daily. She wants people to be active and take care of themselves, be vigilant about unusual physiological changes and be confident and assertive when dealing with the health care system.
She isn't taking her health sitting down, either, which is why she's participating in the Underwear Affair.
"I wanted to do it for my kids because they had a rough year. It's a great way for them to put an end to what we went through and have a little bit of fun."
Underwear Affair
The annual Underwear Affair is a 5- or 10-kilometre foot race much like any other except the participants are only clad in their undergarments. The concept has caught on and is growing in popularity, proving that it also helps to get people to talk about cancers that are otherwise difficult to talk about because of where they are located.
Nick Loche, chief development officer with the Alberta Cancer Foundation, said the run is a big boost to the organization and the research efforts it funds.
"It's one of our larger events on an annual basis," he said.
The Calgary event raised $555,000 with more than 1,400 participants. The event in Edmonton this weekend is expected to come close to matching those amounts.
Loche said it's also still an increasingly popular event that draws in a mostly younger demographic, probably due to a few compelling factors.
"There's a lot of interest in this event," he said, stifling a snicker as he acknowledged the unusual theme. "I think that, given the winters that we have in Alberta, the opportunity for people to get out there and really have fun — it's a small window. People like to do that."
Cancer and the cause
According to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, colorectal cancer is the second most prevalent type of cancer below the waist, accounting for more than 1,650 new diagnoses each year. It is also the second most frequent cause of death from all cancers, according to the Canadian Cancer Society's recently published report, Canadian Cancer Statistics 2011, estimating that it will claim 8,900 people this year alone.
It is expected that one in 14 Canadians will be diagnosed with this form of cancer at some point during their lifetime.
To learn more about the Alberta Cancer Foundation or the Underwear Affair, including making a donation to any of the participants, call 780-423-2220 or visit www.uncoverthecure.org.
To learn more about cancer statistics or to research other cancer information, call the Canadian Cancer Society at 1-800-661-2262 or visit www.cancer.ca.
