Cancer survivor: get a screening; it can save your life
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Tommy Bradshaw had always been in good health. His cholesterol was slightly high but he stayed active and had his hand in many different projects in Society Hill, where was born and raised. Even still, during a routine screening in 2009, Bradshaw was diagnosed with Stage 2 rectal cancer.
Society Hill Mayor Tommy Bradshaw
“My health had always been very good so I didn’t worry about Tommy,” Bradshaw said. “I was worried about these other things that I thought were important.”
The recommended age for someone without a family history of cancer to get their first colo-rectal cancer screening is 50. Bradshaw was 54 when he was diagnosed.
“As the doctor at Duke told me, it is a very insidious disease,” Bradshaw said. “That really underscores the importance of a proper screening. If you are waiting for symptoms, you are losing the game.”
Bradshaw said that the screening, or the thought of it, wasn’t anything that scared him; he just didn’t see the need to take time away from what he was doing because he never felt sick.
“I am here to be an example of what not to do,” Bradshaw said. “Don’t wait for symptoms or wait for the symptom to go away. I was, basically, hardheaded. I was fifty-four, almost fifty-five, and I had not been screened. I was seeing intermittent blood in my stool but it wasn’t ever anything that frightened me; I didn’t think twice about it. I felt great and I just kept putting off and putting off a screening.”
Bradshaw said that while other forms of cancer are more frequently talked about, people need to understand the facts and their risks.
“Colo-rectal cancer is one of these things that people need to be informed about,” Bradshaw said. “I approach this just like I approach being the Mayor of Society Hill: I like to make informed decisions. You can’t make informed decisions if you aren’t well informed. I think that applies throughout life.”
When survivors and doctors talk, people need to listen, Bradshaw said.
“Heed the warnings of people who are preaching this stuff (cancer screenings) because it is all true,” Bradshaw said. “Caught in Stage 1, colo-rectal cancer has over a 90 percent survival rate; in Stage 4, there is only a 10 percent chance that you will be alive in five years.”
It was during a routine screening that Bradshaw said his doctor found a polyp. It was biopsied and determined to be cancerous. He underwent six weeks of radiation, took a chemotherapy pill and underwent surgery three months later.
Since his surgery and other treatments, Bradshaw has had no reoccurrence of his cancer. He said that his doctor does not like the word ‘cured’ because ‘he can’t predict the future’, though he doesn’t think Bradshaw is any more likely to have his cancer come back than anyone else.
If he could stress one thing, Bradshaw said that it would be for everyone to get a screening at 50, earlier if they have a family history of cancer.
“The bottom line is: this took a year away from my life,” Bradshaw said. “People say they don’t want to have a colonoscopy but I would get on my hands and knees and crawl somewhere to have one. There is nothing to a colonoscopy and it can save your life.”