Elevate Your Health Colorado One screening gives new lease on life

When Don Herman turned 50 last year, he felt it was time to start checking off a few things from life’s to-do list. He vowed to make time every day for loved ones, plan a ski trip, and learn yoga.

Taking preventative health care measures was not high on the list. But accomplishing these goals might not have been possible had Don not taken one of the most important tests of his adult life: a colon cancer screening. “Getting screened for colon cancer was something I knew I had to do once I turned 50, but I never felt a sense of urgency about it,” he recalls. “My close relatives never had this type of cancer, and I didn’t have any symptoms.”

A friendly reminder
No more than three weeks after celebrating the big 5-0, Don received an at-home test kit courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. The kit is automatically mailed to members when they turn 50 years old as a reminder to screen for colon cancer.

“Until that kit came in the mail, I didn’t really think seriously about scheduling a colon cancer screening,” Don admits. “When I received the mailing, I had a choice to take it or throw it aside.” Like the majority of members, Don took the reminder seriously.

The kit ­contained a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) that detects human blood in the stool — an indication that colon polyps or cancer could be present. After returning the self-test to Kaiser Permanente for testing, Don received news that his sample tested positive and was promptly referred to gastroenterologist Dr. John Riopelle to schedule a colonoscopy.

During the colonoscopy, Dr. Riopelle detected a suspicious mass. Immediately following the procedure, Dr. Riopelle advised Don to schedule surgery to have the mass removed rather than wait for the biopsy results.

“We all sprang into action and began working with the surgical department to put a plan in place,” Don recalls. “It was pretty impressive the way my doctors and staff knew what I needed without me having to ask.”   

Ticking time bomb
Don underwent surgery to remove a four-centimeter malignant mass in his colon along with 18 lymph nodes as a precaution. “I didn’t worry about the surgery to remove the cancer, I worried about whether it had spread,” Don says.

Although the surgery revealed the cancer had perforated the wall of his colon, it had not spread to his lymph nodes or organs. Now, about one year after Don’s colon cancer diagnosis and surgery, he’s sharing his experience to encourage others to get screened.

“If I had put off my screening, the cancer would have likely spread to other organs, increasing the chances that it would have been incurable,” Don says. “Kaiser Permanente initiated the screening that helped save my life.”

Dr. Riopelle agrees. “Don’s colon cancer was caught and treated early only because he took the screening test at the right time,” Dr. Riopelle says. “That made all the difference.”

Watch how Kaiser Permanente’s colon cancer screening saved Don’s life.

Listen to a physician podcast on colon cancer prevention and screening at kp.org.