Latest news with #colonCancer
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Jeff Ross Shares How Doctor Jokingly Told Him He Had Colon Cancer
Comedian Jeff Ross Shares How Doctor Jokingly Told Him He Had Colon Cancer originally appeared on Parade. Jeff Ross is known for eliciting laughter from crowds, but the legendary roast master, 59, faced a scary situation when he learned he had colon cancer after a routine colonoscopy. But despite the scary diagnosis, the comedian's doctor delivered the news untraditionally, Ross recalled on the Wednesday episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "My oncologist was like, 'Jeff, the good news and bad news. The bad news is you're going to need six months of chemo. The good news is you lost your hair a long time ago,' " he shared. Ross had been urged by a friend to undergo his first colonoscopy due to his age. "I was already in my 50s, and I'd never gotten a colonoscopy," he admitted to Kimmel. "I went in, I had no symptoms, and I had a tumor in my colon. You always think it's never going to happen to you, and it happened to me." After having 7 inches of his colon removed, Ross said, "Now I have a semicolon." 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 While he's doing great health-wise these days, there are remnants of his surgery. "You know, I had laparoscopic surgery so I have holes around here," Ross said, pointing to his chest. "Little holes. I'm like 50 Cent if instead of getting shot, he ate pastrami twice a week for 50 years." The journey also turned into creative fuel for Ross, who channeled it all into his new Broadway show, Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride, which debuts this summer. Despite the blend of comedy and reality in the show, Ross said he thinks it's important to speak out about his experience. "I don't want the show to be maudlin, but I think it's important to address it. Norm was very private and hid his sickness," he said, referencing his dear friend Norm MacDonald, who died in 2021. "I didn't think that was fair to the audience and his friends, so I'm putting it out there. But I don't want people to feel sorry for me. It's going to be a very empowering and bold statement on how to get through tough times." View this post on Instagram A post shared by TAKE A BANANA FOR THE RIDE on Broadway (@jeffrossbway)Comedian Jeff Ross Shares How Doctor Jokingly Told Him He Had Colon Cancer first appeared on Parade on Jun 19, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Jeff Ross Reveals How Doctor Jokingly Delivered His Colon Cancer Diagnosis: 'Good News and Bad News'
During a June 18 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jeff Ross revealing a savage joke that his doctor delivered while sharing his colon cancer diagnosis "My oncologist was like, 'Jeff, the good news and bad news. The bad news is you're going to need six months of chemo. The good news is you lost your hair a long time ago,' " he recalled Ross had 7 inches of his colon surgically removed in the summer of 2024Jeff Ross can appreciate a joke, even in the most dire situations. The 59-year-old comedian, known as the "roast master general" for his performances in celebrity roasts over the years, even found some humor in a joke his doctor delivered when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. During a Wednesday, June 18, appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Ross reflected on his diagnosis and having seven inches of his colon removed via laparoscopic surgery in the summer of 2024. Recalling the moment that he learned about the diagnosis, he said that his doctor shared it with a savage joke. "My oncologist was like, 'Jeff, the good news and bad news. The bad news is you're going to need six months of chemo. The good news is you lost your hair a long time ago,' " he shared. Ross explained that he was diagnosed after having his first colonoscopy at the urging of a friend. "I was already in my 50's, and I'd never gotten a colonoscopy," he admitted. "I went in, I had no symptoms, and I had a tumor in my colon. You always think it's never going to happen to you, and it happened to me." He poked fun at losing some of his colon, saying, "Now I have a semicolon." His surgery and remaining scars also provided some material for a joke: "You know, I had laparoscopic surgery so I have holes around here [singalling his torso and chest]. Little holes. I'm like 50 Cent if instead of getting shot, he ate pastrami twice a week for 50 years." Ross addresses his cancer diagnosis and treatment in his one-man show Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride, which is heading to Broadway for the summer. Speaking to The Minnesota Star Tribune in March 2025, he said that he was "still trying to figure it out" regarding incorporating the experience into the act. "I don't want the show to be maudlin, but I think it's important to address it," he said. "Norm [Macdonald, his close friend who died in 2021] was very private and hid his sickness. I didn't think that was fair to the audience and his friends, so I'm putting it out there. But I don't want people to feel sorry for me. It's going to be a very empowering and bold statement on how to get through tough times." The comedian's brush with cancer isn't the only medical emergency that he's approached in a joking manner. In April 2025, Ross revealed that he spent the night in an emergency room after developing a serious allergic reaction to something that he ate. "It was my first allergic reaction ever," he wrote on Instagram at the time. "I guess that's pretty remarkable considering I'm constantly shoving whatever food is in front of me into my face." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, Ross joked about his dramatically swollen appearance triggered by the reaction, "It looks like I got hit in the face with some nunchucks." Since they have "no idea" what he caused the reaction, he added that he will need to carry an EpiPen "for the rest of my life until it happens again." "I'm like a little kid with a peanut allergy," he teased. Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride opens on Broadway on August 5 at the Nederlander Theatre. Ticket information is available here. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Colon cancer has mysteriously exploded among young Americans. Now doctors have made a huge breakthrough
As doctors search for the cause of a mystery rise in colon cancers in young people, a new study has pinpointed two simple ways you can lower your risk. Eating within an eight-hour time window and practicing mindfulness was found to shed fat and reduce harmful inflammation in the gut linked to the disease. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
4 grocery store items colon cancer doctors avoid — and 3 they love
Diet isn't the only factor that contributes to colon cancer, but it often plays a role. Some of the clearest links have been drawn to sugar and red meat. Experts love coffee and cruciferous greens with anti-inflammatory properties. One of the most common questions that doctors treating colon cancer get is: "What else can I do?" Since colon cancer starts in the digestive tract, the food we put in our bodies is — rightly or wrongly — one of the first places people look, wondering: Is there some food I can eat that will help fight cancer, or some cancer-causing thing I should eliminate from my diet, stat? The truth is that how cancer emerges inside a body is quite complex. There isn't usually one single thing a person can do to stop it. While attending the world's biggest cancer conference earlier this month, I figured I'd cut through some of the noise out there and ask top colon cancer doctors directly what they generally recommend. Dr. Paul Oberstein, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers, says his patients are often hunting for a winning superfood that can combat colon cancer. He fields questions routinely about the merits of avocados, pine nuts, and other items. Could adding those single items to the grocery cart help? While he says he's "doubtful" any single food can really make the difference in cancer recurrence, there are a few well-trodden truths doctors live by. These are backed by reams of study data from around the world. We still can't say for sure whether there's one specific diet that is best to combat cancer, and especially one diet that's best for you in particular. Plus, people with seemingly "clean" diets do get digestive cancers, even in their 30s and 40s. That being said, these four foods are consistently included in diets that seem to lead to cancer diagnoses later on, so oncologists warn against them. Sorry to everyone firing up the grill this summer! Study after study suggests that there really is something about red meat (and especially processed meats like hot dogs and deli cuts) that does the kind of DNA damage that can lead to colon cancer. Oberstein says patients often want to get prescriptive about it: Can I have red meat once a week? Twice a month? He's not really comfortable getting that granular with his advice, based on the data available. "We just don't have the quantification and the confidence to say it's either for sure going to help, or you can't have it ever," he told Business Insider. Dietician Lindsey Wohlford from MD Anderson Cancer Center created a chart in 2016 that recommends eating no more than two softballs' worth (18 oz.) of red meat per week. It's common knowledge in the medical community that over-consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages — including fruit juices, flavored coffees, and soda — can sharply up a person's risk of all kinds of diseases, from diabetes to colon cancer. Sugary drinks are more potent than sweet foods because liquid sugar is absorbed very fast — sometimes too fast. It can saturate the small intestine, spilling excess sugar into the colon. There's also evidence from animal studies that excess fructose — abundant in sugar and high fructose corn syrup — can escalate tumor growth. The latest research on young colon cancer also suggests that young people who report eating more sugary foods tend to have a higher risk of developing late-stage colon cancer. Dr. Andrea Cercek, co-director of the Center for Young Onset Colorectal Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, is leading this research. She said it's not exactly a new idea that sugar can drive cancer growth. "There's even data in animal models that fructose can lead to polyps," Cercek told BI. Her latest find opens up new questions about what might be prompting more aggressive cases of young colon cancer. "Is sugar maybe somehow driving and accelerating this process?" Cercek asked. In a very basic sense, alcohol is just fermented sugar, and it seems to carry a lot of the same cancer risks. Additionally, our liver breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde, a known cancer-causing chemical that can damage DNA. Finally, alcohol dampens nutrient absorption and can kill off good bacteria in your gut. In study after study, alcohol consumption is linked to more colon cancer diagnoses, and in general the more you drink, the greater your risk. Evidence suggests there might be something especially harmful about binge drinking or drinking on an empty stomach, when it comes to colon cancer. Most cancer doctors are not going to insist you can't enjoy a glass of wine or beer now and then, but they would probably say it's best to have it with a meal. If you're feeling hopeless now, buck up! There are a few tried-and-true items cancer doctors recommend adding to your shopping cart. Leafy salad greens are rich in all kinds of nutrients that are great at fighting off cancer, like folate and fiber. A special shout-out should go to the cruciferous green veggies like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale, which are called "brassicas." They harbor bioactive compounds which are released when we chew them that have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Fiber has a reputation for being great at keeping folks full and regular. But that's not all that it does. It also picks up debris in your gut, helping clear out the junk, and dropping off good guy bacteria. That's why Dr. Pashtoon Kasi, a medical oncologist at City of Hope who specializes in GI cancers, said it's "not just fiber for fiber's sake." He says it's underappreciated how fiber is "ameliorating or modulating the microbiome" in ways that may help prevent cancer in the long run. "Coffee comes up in every study," Oberstein said. This is great news for him personally, because he runs on the stuff. (But he says you don't need to feel pressured to start drinking coffee if you don't enjoy it.) There seems to be something deeply beneficial about the anti-inflammatory properties of coffee. Studies show that coffee isn't just good at preventing colon cancer (in one study, coffee drinkers had roughly 26% lower odds of contracting colon cancer) — people with colon cancer diagnoses who drink several cups of coffee a day also lower their odds of death. If you're looking for more widespread dietary advice, the National Comprehensive Cancer Care network guidelines for colon cancer patients recommend sticking to a "low glycemic load" diet, which means choosing more foods that are slow to digest and pack a fiber-rich punch. Low-glycemic foods include all kinds of fruits, veggies, nuts, beans, and whole grains. Dr. Kimmie Ng, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber, where she is the founding director of the young-onset colorectal cancer center, says her recommendations fit this basic framework: "A diet less in red meat and processed foods and more in healthy proteins and fruits and vegetables is generally what we recommend," she told BI. "We know that that's typically anti-inflammatory and just healthier overall for a variety of chronic diseases, including cancer." Read the original article on Business Insider
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Colon Cancer Cases Are Rising. Here's How To Get Screened.
Photo of person getting colon cancer screening Colon cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. It typically begins as a small growth of tissue called a polyp in the lining of the colon or rectum. While not all polyps become cancerous, most colon cancers start as polyps, making early detection and removal critical. Fortunately, colon cancer is highly preventable and survivable. Regular screening plays a key role in identifying and removing precancerous polyps and early-stage cancers, when treatment is most effective. In fact, 9 out of 10 people survive when colon cancer is found early. Without screening, undetected cancers can progress to advanced stages, such as Stage III and IV, which are associated with poorer outcomes. Colorectal cancer is projected to claim 53,000 lives in 2025. Understanding your colon cancer screening options will allow you to make informed choices alongside your clinician. The American Cancer Society now recommends that individuals at average risk begin regular colon cancer screening at age 45, a shift from the previous benchmark of 50. The lowered screening age reflects rising rates of colon cancer in younger adults and historically low screening compliance for older adults. You may need to start earlier than 45 if you have: As an example, if your sibling was diagnosed with Stage 1 colon cancer at age 40, you wouldn't wait until 45 for your first colonoscopy. Instead, you'd start 10 years before their diagnosis—at age 30. Given how risk factors change one's initial screening age it is of critical importance for individuals to know their personal and family history when speaking with their clinician about initial screening. Reminder on to do list to schedule a colonoscopy 1. Colonoscopy What it is: A procedure that uses a flexible tube with a camera to examine the entire colon. If polyps are found, they can be removed during the procedure. 'A colonoscopy is the gold standard and most preferred method because we can examine the entire colon, locate where the early growths (polyps) are, and remove them on the spot. This is what makes a colonoscopy a cancer prevention procedure," says Dr. Austin Chiang, Gastroenterologist and author of Gut: An Owner's Guide. Other details: This procedure requires patients to undergo preparation (e.g. dietary modifications and laxatives) beforehand to clear the colon so that there is adequate visualization. Since it is performed under sedation most people experience little to no discomfort and have no memory of the exam. The entire process usually takes less than an hour. 2. Flexible Sigmoidoscopy What it is: A flexible sigmoidoscopy examines only part of the colon, called the sigmoid colon, where colorectal cancer is commonly found. 'Some prefer this method because it doesn't require drinking a full bowel prep, but the tradeoff is that most of the colon is left unexamined," says Chiang. Other details: Flexible sigmoidoscopy often uses lighter sedation or none at all. Some patients may experience mild cramping during the approximately 20-minute procedure. While less comprehensive than a full colonoscopy, it can be a more convenient option for some. 3. CT Colonography What it is: A CT scan that produces 3D images of the colon and rectum to identify abnormalities. However, 'if any abnormalities are found, a traditional colonoscopy is still required for further evaluation or removal, ' says Chiang. Other details: It exposes patients to a low dose of radiation and is best at detecting larger polyps (>1cm). Thus smaller polyps may go undetected. 4. Capsule Endoscopy (e.g. Pill Endoscopy) Camera capsule for intestinal examination What it is: A swallowable capsule with a tiny camera that takes thousands of pictures as it travels through the digestive tract. 'Capsule endoscopy can be used to visualize the colon only after incomplete or inadequate colonoscopy. Like other non-invasive tests, including CT colonography, no intervention can be performed during the test,' says Chiang. Other details: Capsule endoscopy is painless and does not require sedation, but preparation is similar to that for a colonoscopy. The images are transported to an external wearable device and the capsule does not need to be returned. This test's accuracy can vary based on preparation of bowel. It cannot remove polyps. 5. Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) What it is: A stool test that detects hidden (occult) blood in the stool, which may signal cancer. 'A FIT test is done annually, and is designed to detect hidden blood coming from the colon. It is a noninvasive colorectal cancer detection test, designed to detect colorectal cancer," says Dr. Sophie Balzora, Gastroenterologist at NYU. Other details: FIT does not require any bowel preparation or dietary restrictions, making it a more convenient option. However, it cannot detect precancerous polyps and must be completed annually to remain effective. 6. Guaiac-based Fecal Occult Blood Test What it is: Similar to FIT but uses a different chemical method to detect blood in the stool. 'This has essentially fallen out of favor. There are better screening detection tests available for average-risk individuals," says Balzora. Other details: This test may require dietary changes before stool sample collection. It is recommended annually but is less accurate and largely outdated. 7. Stool DNA Test (e.g. Cologuard) What it is: Stool DNA test combines FIT with a DNA test to detect cancer-related DNA mutations in stool. 'It is done every 3 years assuming a negative test. It, too, is designed to detect colorectal cancer, and not the precancerous growths, or polyps, ' says Balzora. Other details: It requires no dietary restrictions ahead of giving a stool sample. However, positive results necessitate follow-up with a colonoscopy. Colon cancer screening is not a one time event. It needs to be repeated to monitor for interval change in the colon. However, the frequency of screening is variable. 'If someone has many precancerous polyps, even one large polyp (over 1 cm—about the size of a pea), or polyps with certain microscopic features, they are recommended to come in sooner for their next colonoscopy than someone at average risk or with no prior polyps,' says Balzora. Regular screening for colon cancer is a powerful tool in reducing the incidence and mortality associated with the disease. While the gold standard test is a colonoscopy, the right test for you depends on your risk level, personal preferences, and access to testing. Speak with your healthcare provider to determine the most appropriate option and timing. The most important point is to not delay screening.
