March has been designated Colon Cancer Awareness Month. March 12 would have been racing legend John Andretti’s 61st birthday. Colon cancer claims the lives of over 50,000 Americans every year. This includes legends like John Andretti, Chadwick Boseman, Charles Schultz, Audrey Hepburn and Kirstie Alley.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton recognized that colon cancer was a serious threat to the health of Americans. At that time colon cancer was the second most common cancer in the US. President Clinton and his advisors recognized that colon cancer had few symptoms and the best way to catch it was with early detection. In order to promote screening for colon cancer, President Clinton signed a Presidential Proclamation designating March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
President Barack Obama re-dedicated a Presidential Proclamation, again designating March as Colorectal Cancer Month in 2016 and 2017. Presidents Clinton and Obama helped raise awareness about colon cancer and early detection. Thanks to their efforts, March is a time organizations around the world focus on one of the biggest, but frequently preventable, killers.
After John Andretti’s death on January 30, 2020, CheckIt4Andretti Charitable Foundation was born out of the #CheckIt4Andretti screening campaign which started on social media. Since its founding, CheckIt4Andretti foundation has worked with free and charitable clinics to help prevent under-insured Americans from becoming another colon cancer statistic.
Together with our partners, NE Digestive Health, Community Care Clinic of Rowan County, Sebela Pharmaceutical, and Free and Charitable Clinics of NC, CheckIt4Andretti is taking the mission of screening seriously to save lives. By providing free screening FIT tests to the clinics, we are able to detect patients in need of screening colonoscopies. CheckIt4Andretti then works with our partners to provide colonoscopies free of charge to those who can’t afford them.
CheckIt4Andretti is proud to promote Colon Cancer Awareness Month. If you would like to support us in our efforts here’s how you can help:
Dress in blue for colon cancer awareness.
The blue ribbon has been officially recognized as the symbol to promote visibility of this deadly disease. Wear the ribbon all year. Dress in blue on March 1.
Donate to CheckIt4Andretti
Help us screen more people and save more lives! Make a donation in honor of someone you love, someone you may have lost or in honor of John Andretti.
Take the screening quiz
Find out if you’re at risk and need to be screened. If you’re over 45 years old, or if you know you’re at increased risk, get a screening done as soon as you can.
Don’t be embarrassed to talk about colon cancer
Talk to your family. Talk to your friends. Talk to your doctor. Talking about your colon may seem embarrassing, but you don’t want to die from not being embarrassed.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, but colon cancer is diagnosed every day of every year. Make sure you’re aware of its symptoms and you get checked out. Check it for the ones you love. #CheckIt4Andretti!
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