March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. Covenant has a free colonoscopy clinic coming up at the end of the month for those who qualify.
“Colon cancer usually starts as polyps. The incident of polyp is usually very high at the age of 50, that’s where people need to be start screening for colon poylp. This will prevent them from having colon cancer later on in life,” Dr. Houssam Kharrat said.
Dr. Kharrat is a gastroenterologist with Covenant Health Partners.
“If someone has a strong family history of colon cancer, or colon polyp, then they are put in a different category, it’s called high risk category,” Dr. Kharrat said “Those are the patients we seek to screen earlier to prevent them from colon cancer later on in life.”
When it comes to signs and symptoms, Dr. Kharrat said there things to look for, like blood in the stool or a change in your bowel habits. If that happens, Dr. Kharrat said you should talk to your doctor about it.
“Try to be as natural as possible with your diet, try to avoid any type of processed foods, minimize the amount of red meat you eat, try to eat more fruit and vegetables and minimize the chemicals you add to your diet,” Dr. Kharrat said.
Covenant has a free colonoscopy clinic coming up on Saturday, March 25. You do have to qualify ahead of time, and the deadline to qualify is Monday, March 6. To find out if you qualify, call (806)725-7448 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
More information about the clinic can be found here.
