Prevent Colon Cancer

Prevent Colon Cancer with Screening

(PLANO, TEXAS March 8, 2011) ­ March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and former colon cancer patient Rick Gulledge knows just how important preventive screenings can be.  

It was just another day for Rick until he went to the restroom and noticed some blood. “I went and got my wife and told her that we needed to go get checked out because a month earlier my brother was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer,” said Rick. He went and made an appointment with a gastroenterologist.  

“The doctor did a colonoscopy on me and found cancer, so I made an appointment with the surgeon that my brother used,” said Rick. The surgeon told Rick that he would have to have a portion of his lower colon removed, and he scheduled the surgery.  

“They took out 21 of my lymph nodes and found cancer in three of them,” said Rick. He then went through six months of chemotherapy.  “The care at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, from the receptionist that welcomed me and took me up to register for the surgery, to the O.R. nursing staff, to the nurses on the floor when I was recovering from my surgery, were amazing,” said Rick. Now it’s been a few years since Rick has been off the chemotherapy and everything is back to normal and his tests are coming back positive.  

“I look at life differently now,” says Rick. “Sadly, my brother did not survive due to the fact that his cancer was discovered too late. After I was diagnosed with colon cancer, all of my brothers and sisters had a colonoscopy too, and I just can’t stress enough that everyone should have one when they turn 50.” 

Schedule your colonoscopy today. Search www.BaylorHealth.com/PlanoCancer or call 1.800.4BAYLOR for a referral to a colon and rectal specialist on the Baylor Plano medical staff. 

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano is a 112-bed acute care hospital committed to serving North Texas residents with personalized care and advanced technology on a beautiful campus with hotel-like amenities and all private rooms. Services at the not-for-profit, fully-accredited facility include treatment for advanced spine deformities at the Baylor Scoliosis Center, neurosciences, orthopaedics, medical and radiation oncology, surgical weight loss, women’s services, gynecology, urology, gastroenterology, pulmonary medicine, sleep disorders, pain management, diabetes management and more. Patients have access to digital imaging onsite at Baylor Plano and at the Baylor Diagnostic Imaging Center at Craig Ranch, an outpatient department of Baylor Plano. The hospital is the first in North Dallas and Collin County to offer minimally invasive robotic surgery for gynecology and prostate procedures through the FDA-approved da Vinci® S Surgical System.  Baylor Plano is a 2010 recipient of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence and houses an Accredited Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons Commissions on Cancer.  Baylor Plano is the only hospital in Collin County and one of five in Texas accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers. Jerri Garison is president of Baylor Plano. For more information, or a physician referral, call toll free 1-800-4-BAYLOR or log onto www.BaylorHealth.com/Plano. 

About Baylor Health Care System

Baylor Health Care System is a faith-based supporting organization providing services to a network of acute care hospitals and related health care entities that provide patient care, medical education, research and community service. Baylor recorded more than 2.6 million patient encounters, $3.8 billion in total operating revenue, $4.4 billion in total assets and $513.5 million in community benefit in fiscal year 2010.  Baylor’s network of more than 260 access points includes 26 owned/operated/ ventured/affiliated hospitals, 23 joint ventured ambulatory surgical centers, 50 satellite outpatient locations, four senior centers and 156 HealthTexas physician clinics.  

Physicians are members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Health Care System¹s subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and are neither employees nor agents of those medical centers, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano or Baylor Health Care System.