Of all medical procedures, the colonoscopy has to be the one picked on the most. Frankly speaking, it’s the butt of all medical jokes! Because it’s such an invasive examination into the human body — aside from the dreaded prostate exam — it definitely gets treated with a lot of necessary bathroom humor.

The colonoscopy can be a humorass and uncomfartable subject, butt now that I’ve got the crappy puns out of the way, let’s get down into the bowels about why I’m writing about a colonoscopy.

I’m 55 and I had my second colonoscopy recently. It’s not that I love doing them, but three years ago after I had my first procedure, my colon specialist, Dr. Raymond Landes of Rochester Hills, MI, found a couple polyps. He removed them and put me on the three-year checkup plan. After my latest exam in November, my colon got a clean bill of health and he told me to go back in 10 years for another checkup.

Essentially, the colon is the body’s pipes and sewer system. At almost 17 feet long between the large and small intestines, it flushes through everything that you consume. That’s a lot of food, grease, and junk going through your body — and for many, many years. It’s incredibly important to get the pipes checked out.

Colon cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, is the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States. People between the ages of 50-75 should get screened regularly for colorectal cancer, according to directives from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The American Cancer Society recommends that screenings begin even earlier, at age 45.

But a scary statistic has emerged. While colorectal cancer rates have declined 30 percent among people 50 years of age and older, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research, cancer deaths have risen for people under 50. More alarmingly, among 20-34 year olds, colorectal cancer rates since 1994 have increased 51%. Researchers expect that number to increase 90% in this age group in the period from 2010-2030.

One of those cases hit too close to home in 2021. My niece Megan Varcie’s boyfriend, Reilly Bowen, of West Bloomfield, MI, was 24 years old when he began complaining of abdominal pains in February of that year. He contacted his doctor, who assumed it was Irritable Bowel Syndrome. When things got worse a few months later, he went to the emergency room where doctors did an X-Ray, but they sent him home because nothing was found, according to Megan.

“A few weeks later, Reilly was in the hospital again and that’s when he got diagnosed,” she said.

During that hospital visit, Reilly had a CT Scan, which determined he had a tumor in his colon. The colonoscopy and biopsy confirmed that it was cancer.

At just the age of 24, Reilly had surgery on his colon in July, and then began an intense chemotherapy regimen through roughly the end of 2021, Megan said.

“The surgery removed almost everything, but there was potential spread to the peritoneum so they did chemo,” Megan said.

Megan added: “Then he did maintenance chemo until he had another surgery in May of 2022 called HIPEC where they do a chemo bath of the peritoneum to try to kill off any remaining cancer. They did not find any evidence of cancer in the biopsies of the peritoneum.”

Reilly — now 26 — has been doing a blood test every three months called Signatera — a ctDNA test that detects colon cancer.

Megan said that Reilly has had all negative tests (no evidence of cancer), until a positive test came back in October 2023.

“So he has the choice to either wait and see if the cancer came back — positive results usually result a recurrence within months — but he decided to do a clinical trial at MD Anderson in Houson, Texas, for patients with Minimal Residual Disease,” Megan said. “It is essentially a form of immunotherapy that uses natural killer cells to attack the residual cancer.”

Reilly is young and has his health going for him, besides an extremely supportive girlfriend in Megan. They live together in West Bloomfield, MI, are both athletes, and began running together in 2023. Megan has played competitive soccer for years and Reilly excelled in competitive swimming. In October we ran a 5k race in Milford, MI, and in November we ran the Blake’s Farms 5k Holiday Hustle where Reilly finished in a blistering pace of 9-minute miles. Of almost 800 runners, he finished in 116th place with a time of 28:23.

Prior to my first colonoscopy in 2020, in my initial consultation with Dr. Landes, he explained that someone with undiagnosed early stages of colon cancer often has no symptoms. Naturally, the problems start as the cancer grows. That’s why the colonoscopy is such an important exam. Polyps in the colon can eventually turn into cancer if left undetected. The trained eye of a doctor can spot and remove polyps or any other diseased part of the colon during an exam.

So when Dr. Landes’ office sent me a reminder about my colonoscopy, this year, I set up my appointment right away. The “prep” isn’t so bad and it’s a great chance to lose a few pounds and start fresh! The actual exam only takes 10-15 minutes and I’ll be honest, the anesthesia was the best part. I was out the second the anesthesiologist said, “Have a good sleep Tom,” and pushed the sedative through my IV. I woke up what felt like a second later in the recovery room.

Colonoscopy exams have become part of pop-culture and awareness campaigns have been staged by actors and famous TV personalities.

The most famous “public” colonoscopy occurred in 2000 when Katie Couric of NBC’s Today Show underwent a colonoscopy live on the air. She did it to raise awareness because 2 years earlier her husband died from colorectal cancer. I remember watching it at the time when I was a young 32-year-old stud and thinking, “This is so dumb. Why is she doing a colonoscopy on live TV?”

But that stunt served its purpose and created awareness. A University of Michigan study found that colonoscopy exams following the Today Show‘s national broadcast jumped nationwide by 20%.

Jimmy Kimmel — host of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! — underwent a public colonoscopy as well and got support from Katie Couric in a hilarious bit that they did on the show. It aired in 2018 shortly after Kimmel turned 50 and you can view the bit here: https://youtu.be/10ndJuFP1PY?si=LyIxlG5sGA0chqGK

And actor Ryan Reynolds did a public colonoscopy with fellow friend and actor Rob McElhenney last year. It turns out that they both are co-chairman of the Welsh Football Club Wrexham AFC, a professional soccer club in a Wales mining town. McElhenney bet Reynolds that if he learned to speak Welsh, Reynolds would have to get his colonoscopy filmed as a short documentary. Reynolds lost the bet and you can watch the funny bit here: https://youtu.be/5sXkIUZEWIo?si=PSKZtmsO7FsNewoH

The colonoscopy prep may be a little unpleasant, and the subject may be a little embarrassing to discuss — or I could just write a blog about it and create some public awareness on how important it is for us to get the exam – no matter the age.