Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month: Get Screened [Video]

In 2022, Jocelyn Laidlaw was blindsided by an advanced-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis, changing her world.

Colorectal cancer and screening is not always easy to talk about, but it’s an important subject to bring up with your primary care provider. “The embarrassment is what actually allowed my cancer to flourish. We didn’t catch it sooner,” says Laidlaw. “But I’d rather be embarrassed and talking about this publicly than have someone else have the phone call that I got that day when I was told I had cancer.”

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in Alberta. Most cases of colorectal cancer are in people aged 50 and older with no family history. Getting screened can prevent and detect cancer at its early stages when treatment is more effective and it’s easy for eligible Albertans with the Fecal Immunochemical Test, or FIT, that you can perform at home.