Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear, and Madeline Abramson, Honorary Chair of Dress in Blue Day, will meet and greet everyone who stops by the Glass Room of the Ambulatory Care Building at the Health Sciences Center to see and tour the inflatable “Super Colon.” There will be blue star cookies and/or T-shirt giveaways, and educational information on colon cancer will be available.
The purpose of Dress in Blue Day is to promote colon cancer awareness and encourage people to get screened, said Jaime Wientjes, Cancer Control Specialist with the Kentucky Cancer Program at UofL.
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in the country as well as in Kentucky. It affects people of all ethnicities.
As many as 60 percent of deaths from colorectal cancer could be prevented if everyone age 50 and older were screened regularly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When colon cancer is found early and treated, the 5-year relative survival rate is 90 percent.
“ Colorectal cancer screening saves lives, but unfortunately many people are not being screened,” Wientjes said.