Ostomate Power: Living Well After Colorectal Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, “African Americans are about 20% more likely to get colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die from it than most other groups.” This Colon Cancer Awareness Month, our Hopelight Spotlight features Support Volunteer Teres who has beaten those odds.

Teres’ journey from a healthy young woman who’d never even spent a night in the hospital to a colorectal cancer survivor who lives with an ostomy was unexpected and terrifyingly quick.

“All I would do was cry. I got really depressed and I remember saying to my husband and my kids, ‘I’m not going to get through this, you’re going to have to put me away somewhere.” It was at that point Teres called Cancer Hope Network.

Today, she’s a longterm survivor and is channeling her lifelong passion for helping into raising awareness. She’s providing guidance and support as a peer mentor for Cancer Hope Network.

“You will be ok. It’s something people say to other people all the time. But I have to say that it’s true. Have hope. Have faith. Fight and know that you will be ok. My treatment was tough, it was so very difficult, but it saved my life. I’m still able to function, to have a quality of life as good as or better than before my Colorectal Cancer diagnosis.”

Read Teres’ full story here: https://cancerhopenetwork.org/blog/ostomate-power-living-well-after-colorectal-cancer/)

https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/colorectal-cancer-rates-higher-in-african-americans-rising-in-younger-people.html#:~:text=African%20Americans%20are%20about%2020,are%20related%20to%20socioeconomic%20status.