February 24, 2025 • 29 mins
Colon cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer in both men and women—but it’s also one of the most preventable. With early detection, a simple colonoscopy could save your life. Yet, many people don’t realize screening should start at age 45.
In this episode of Spotlight Houston, host Blanca Quezada talks with Keith Rollins, founder of the Push Up Foundation and a stage 3 colon cancer survivor. Keith shares his personal journey—from an unexpected checkup to life-saving treatment—and explains why spreading colon cancer awareness is his mission.
The Push Up Foundation Houston is dedicated to educating communities about the importance of early screenings and preventative care. Their 5th Annual Victory Lap 5K is happening on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at Highline Park in the Heights, kicking off Colon Cancer Awareness Month. This family-friendly event brings together survivors, caregivers, and advocates to celebrate life, support prevention, and remember those lost to the disease.
Don't wait—get screened! Learn more about the Push Up Foundation and the Victory Lap 5K at:
- https://www.pushupfoundationhouston.org
- 832-454-6693
Key Topics Covered:
- The importance of early screenings and colonoscopy at age 45
- How Keith Rollins' unexpected diagnosis led to a movement
- The mission and impact of the Push Up Foundation
- What to expect at the Victory Lap 5K event
- How you can get involved, volunteer, or donate
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
No no one ever told me. 45. And so I just
decided I we needed to let everyone know that
that's the new age. They they it's been pushed up. So
my wife and I and my my children, we came up with the
name. Let's let's create a five zero one c three and call it the push
up foundation to get people to push up the age to
(00:21):
45. A colonoscopy, there's things that get pushed up in you too. You
don't feel it because you're asleep, but they they have to go check things. So
so we created it, and and I said, as soon as I get done with
chemo, most people wanna ring a bell and do that. I I said, I wanna
go see my friends. And and then we were coming out of COVID about this
time, and so we we said, let's let's have a victory lap.
(00:42):
Let let's do a let's do a five day. Let's and I said, let's just
go to Memorial Park, and we'll we'll just walk around the
park, and we'll get everyone shirts. The the colorectal
awareness month color is is blue. And I I said,
let's get everyone a shirt, and we'll have a sea of blue walking around
Memorial Park. So everyone will ask, hey. Hey. What are you guys
(01:04):
doing? Well, what is this all about? Yeah. People get curious.
Yes. Just to spread the word. And then we set up a little
table. We had some app like, drinks and stuff afterwards. Had a
little party. And that first one, we we probably had about a
hundred people show up, and that was great, and it was fun.
(01:28):
Thank you for joining us for another episode of Spotlight Houston, where we bring
you the best people, places, and events in Greater Houston. March is
colon cancer awareness month. And did you know that colon cancer is one
of the most preventable cancers? Early detection through routine
screening can make all the difference. Keith Rollins, founder of the Push Up
Foundation and a stage three colon cancer survivor, joins
(01:51):
us today to share his journey on why he's on a mission to educate
the community about the importance of getting screened before age
45. Through the Push Up Foundation, Keith and his team are
spreading awareness, helping people take charge of their health, and hosting the
five k annual victory lap on Saturday,
03/01/2025 at Highline Park in The Heights.
(02:12):
This event brings together survivors, caregivers, and supporters
to celebrate life, honor loved ones, and encourage prevention. If you've
ever wondered how a simple screening could save your life or how you can make
a difference, this is the episode for you. This is episode number one
twenty six of with an original air date of Monday,
02/24/2025. Spotlight Houston is brought
(02:33):
to you by STORYzone Media. And now here's your host, Blanca
Quesada. Hi, everybody. Did
you know that March kicks off colorectal cancer
awareness? It's very important because, you know,
it's a type of cancer that can be prevented.
So early detection is definitely very important.
(02:55):
You need to find out as much as you can about
colon cancer awareness, what the symptoms
are, what you need to do. So in order to
get a lot of that information, you don't have to call the doctor
right now. You can or should attend
the Push Up Foundation's fifth annual victory lap
(03:18):
five k on Saturday, March 1 at
Highland Park in The Heights to to kick
off colon cancer awareness month. This is a
family friendly event that brings
survivors, families, and advocates together to
promote colon cancer prevention and, of course,
(03:40):
helping to save your life. So so as I mentioned
before, saving, making sure that you get
early screenings is really important. So
founded by Houston resident and colon
cancer survivor, Keith Rollins, who is
just having a blast putting this event together.
(04:02):
He is the Push Up Foundation, as I mentioned, founder,
and it is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to raising awareness about colon cancer,
which is the third most diagnosed cancer among
men and women. Since its inception, the
foundation has inspired countless individuals to share their
(04:24):
stories and prioritize their health. So today, I've
invited Keith to talk to us about this journey or
his journey, actually, as a survivor and why
he thought it was important for him to create
the Push Up Foundation. Welcome, Keith. Thank you so much,
Blanca. So it's great to have you here and
(04:46):
especially to hear your personal experience with colon
cancer. And so, first of all, what
made you decide to go and get checked? So it
was out of the ordinary, frankly. I was always told
that the age to get a colonoscopy was the age of 50.
Mhmm. And so at the age of 49, during COVID,
(05:09):
I was doing a workout, and I felt a twinge on
my backside. And I thought, well, that that seems
weird, like a sharp pain. And so I had my wife take
a take a look, and she thought it was an ingrown
hair. But I wanted to make sure, so I called a,
surgeon friend of mine, and I said, I need to get this checked. Can I
(05:32):
come by and see you? And he said, well, I'm busy, but here's here's my
buddy. Give him a call. And so I called him and he said,
yeah. I have time. You can come in. He's a colorectal
surgeon. I had never met him before, but I went in and
I said, I have this I think it's an ingrown hair, but can you check
just to make sure? And he said, well, sure. But while you're here,
(05:54):
have you got your colonoscopy yet? I said, no. I'm 49. And
he said, well, the new recommended age is 45.
I said, well, I didn't know. I did not know that. Okay. I said, well,
let's schedule a colonoscopy. And he said, well, while you're here,
I'll I'll do a quick rectal exam just to make sure everything's
okay. I said, hey. Whatever. So I got on the
(06:16):
table. The ingrown hair was in fact just that. It was
an ingrown hair that had got infected. But when he did
some examination, he saw a polyp, and he said,
hey. We need to get that removed, and we definitely need to
schedule a colonoscopy. And I said, great. So a couple weeks later, went
in for the colonoscopy, and the polyp was just something
(06:39):
simple. He was able to remove that. But as he traveled up
my colon, he found that abnormality. I wasn't supposed to
be there, did a biopsy. And when I woke up,
he was standing there and he said, I found something abnormal, and
we're going to have to send it to pathology. And I'll need to see
you in a in a week or two. And right away, we kinda felt
(07:01):
that abnormal in a colon probably means
cancer. And so we were on we were very calm. We're
very I have a faith that I just keep really calm in in
situations like this. And so about a week week and a half
went by, we went in to see him, and he said, you do in fact
have colon cancer. And I said, we were taken aback to a
(07:23):
certain extent. Every the first time you hear that, it's a it's a little
strange. And he said, the first thing we need to do is to see
if it has spread in your body to other organs. And I
said, well, let's do the test right now. Yeah.
Well, you've gotta talk to my team. We've gotta get that scheduled.
So I actually did it the next day. And first thing in
(07:46):
the morning, did the CT scan, and then I went and played golf
with my buddies. Just Yeah. Why not? Mine. I I didn't wanna think about
it. And I think it was the eleventh or twelfth hole. I
received a phone call, and and thank God it had not spread.
But, definitely, I I needed a surgery to remove the,
the cancer. So I said, well, let's go. Let's get let's get it
(08:09):
done. Yeah. So the quickest we could get in was probably
two weeks later, and he went in and removed
ten inches of my colon, reattached it back together. And when
he when he did that, they also take fat around that
area and lymph nodes. And I believe he took, like,
twenty three lymph nodes, and three of them were cancerous,
(08:32):
which means most likely I'd have to do chemotherapy
to make sure nothing microscopic is going on. Prevention.
Right. So went and saw it on saw a couple different oncologists,
MBA Anderson and Texas Oncology. They both
recommended the same thing, the same treatment, and they said, just go
(08:52):
whatever is the most convenient. And so Texas Oncology
and doctor Hsu, they were only about fifteen minutes from my house.
And so a month after surgery, I started 12
rounds of chemotherapy, once every two weeks. And I think the
doctor got all the cancer out. This was the chemo is really designed just
to go burn out any any cells that are floating in my
(09:15):
body. And and so got through that. That was,
more of a mental grind. There was physical grind, but very mental
getting through it. It was during COVID, so I was actually working from
home, and I was working. I I worked every single day going
through chemo at a tube running on my chest and,
just kept working. My days were a little slower because it started to wear me
(09:37):
down, but I was able to get through it. During the chemotherapy
process, I was started I was pissed because no one had told
me that the recommended age was 45 to
get colonoscopy. Right. I I went to doctor. I got physicals and
all this stuff. No no one ever told me. 45. And so I
just decided I we needed to let everyone know that
(10:00):
that's the new age. They they it's been pushed up. So
my wife and I and my my children, we came up with the
name. Let's let's create a five zero one c three and call it the push
up foundation to get people to push up the age to
45. A colonoscopy, there's things that get pushed up in you too. You
don't feel it because you're asleep, but they they have to go check things. So
(10:22):
so we created it, and and I said, as soon as I get done with
chemo, most people wanna ring a bell and do that. I I said, I wanna
go see my friends. And and then we were coming out of COVID about this
time, and so we we said, let's let's have a victory lap.
Let let's do a let's do a five thing. And I said, let's just go
to Memorial Park, and we'll we'll just walk around the park,
(10:42):
and we'll get everyone shirts. The the colorectal
awareness month color is is blue. And I said,
let's get everyone a shirt, and we'll have a sea of blue walking around
Memorial Park. So everyone will ask, hey. Hey. What are you guys
doing? Well, what is this all about? Yeah. People get curious.
Yes. Just to spread the word. And then we set up a little
(11:04):
table. We had some app like, drinks and stuff afterwards, had a
little party. And that first one, we we probably had about a
hundred people show up, and that was great, and it was fun. And then,
we really we weren't trying to raise money. It was more about It was
that money to awareness. We started buying bracelets and
and pamphlets and putting it in doctor's offices. And so that
(11:27):
that was really good. That helped out. And then it was just put it on
social media, so word-of-mouth was getting around. People started
texting me and calling me. Hey. I'm I'm gonna go do this because of you.
And so that that was great. And now fast forward, we're about
to do our fifth victory lap. So five years of
raising awareness and and love to just let you know I I have
(11:49):
not had any recurrence. I do CT scans on a regular
basis and colonoscopies every year, and they got
no reoccurrence and things are moving in the right direction. Yeah.
Thank God you've been blessed. Yes, ma'am. No question. No
question. Of course, we're we people call us now and
say, hey. I've got a friend that is going through cancer
(12:11):
treatment. And I've called and talked to different people just to help them
with how I handled it and what I needed. And really let
them be a part of our foundation and our victory
lap. Let them come out with their with their family and friends.
And thank goodness a lot of these people are getting through it just like I
did. And then we're getting people just showing up. Word-of-mouth has gotten around.
(12:33):
We've had some television coverage and so forth. And so now this fifth
year, we actually were introduced to an HPD
canine officer named Bob Opperman, who had stage
four colon cancer. And so we are supporting him,
and and he's gonna join us at the victory lap with his
canine dog, Novak, and he'll he'll be there.
(12:56):
He is in remission. He is cancer free as well, but
he had a very extensive surgery. He was out of work for a year. He
is now back on the force, and, so we're
championing him. And then a couple other people in our community that,
have also recovered. So lots of survivors, lots
of family members will be there. And, of course, some people didn't make it, so
(13:18):
we're remembering them as well as we do our victory
lap. Yeah. So, Keith, you didn't feel any pain at
all? No. No. I colon cancer is is kind of
the silent killer. Right? I had no blockage. I I'll
tell you, from time to time, I I mighta had a
little blood in my stool, and I thought, oh, it's a hemorrhoid.
(13:40):
Oh, it was a spicy food or something. And I and I
should've listened to myself because I knew it wasn't correct, but it's where it
would stop. And I think that could have been,
a signal that I should have taken action a little bit before, but I had
no pain. Zero. And I was functioning. I'm I'm an athlete. I
was functioning normal workouts, no issues. And,
(14:03):
ultimately, again, if I had gone at 45, I don't think I would
have had to do chemo. It could have been a simple polyp that they could
have fixed. These polyps are really slow growing type things in your
body. And so they it's very natural to have
polyps. So the doc can go in and and clip them off, and that's
why you go every couple years. If you don't have any, you don't have to
(14:25):
go for ten years. Right? So Right. Everyone's a little bit different. So no.
No pain at all. So it doesn't matter if you have pain or not. You
you need to get this done at forty five. Yeah. If you're older than 45,
not too late. Go go get it checked out and make sure to take care
of yourself. Yeah. So did you have to take the liquid and
everything before you went in for your your checkup? Yeah. My
(14:47):
colonoscopy. Yeah. Clearly, for them to
get a good look at your colon, it needs to be empty.
Right. Cool. Yeah. They they they give you you know, it's
changed. I mean, some some people just do, like, Metamucil. Now
they have some other types of liquids that isn't maybe as intense
that causes you to basically empty your colon.
(15:09):
Yeah. So for a couple hours, you're gonna go to the restroom and take it
out. Yeah. Have it cleanse. Years years ago that
they were intense. Those liquids were intense. And Yep. People
that's I think that's why people really didn't want to do it
because they didn't want to go through that preparation in order to
have the colonoscopy. Well, it's a lot better than taking chemotherapy.
(15:31):
I promise you so. Oh, yes. Yes. A little bit of sacrifice
upfront could, meet all the difference. Yeah. Other
than the symptoms that you had, what other type of symptoms should
we look for? Yeah. I I think any type of
stomach pain, of course. I I think it's any blood in your
stool, any just abnormal anything abnormal.
(15:53):
Right? So you should have normal go to the restroom like a normal
person. Right? And so if anything seems weird, you gotta
listen to your body, talk to your personal physician,
but, you know, ultimately, you have to be an advocate for yourself. You you
just why not go get it checked out? Right? I mean, that that's what it's
for. So Yeah. I I would suggest any abnormal
(16:16):
anything. It's it's worth getting it checked out. Again, if you're
younger than 45, and it's probably is nothing, but it's I
think it's always wise to get it checked. Yeah. I can also give you a
story. I had a friend who went in just for her regular
prevention care, and she was also diagnosed with
the polyp that was just wrong. And they did I don't
(16:37):
remember how much they had to cut out, but they did. And she
didn't have to go through chemo. She didn't have to radiation,
nothing because those cancer cells hadn't
spread. That's right. So, and she was a stage three.
So she's been doing great. Yep. So Well, it's
highly preventable. Yeah. You know, if you if you ignore her, if you don't
(17:00):
get tested and that thing can keep continue to grow, and the next
thing you know, it can get into your body and start spreading, and that's
that's not what you want. Yeah. Well, I think your event is a
great event because people can go and hear, you
know, survivors' testimonies That's right. Hear their
stories and and realize that it's not as bad
(17:22):
as it sounds. That's right. Yeah. It's it's a great I mean,
love is in the air. Right? We're we're coming together,
family, friends. We we do a little we have a couple different people
that do, quick testimonials. We, our
surgeon the surgeon who operated on me comes and just talks about the
latest in in prevention, what's going on in the medical
(17:44):
community. And then we we we've had where we we might sing a
song, inspirational song. Sometimes we have a
celebrity starter. We're working on that right now. Oh,
great. And then we just take off. This is actually the
Heights Hike and bike Trail. We we meet at High Line
Park Restaurant. Highline Park is not an actual park. It's a restaurant
(18:07):
off I 10 in Shepherd, North of I 10. And we meet
at Highline Park, and then we we talk a little bit,
inspiration. We all take off. It's a it's a
five k that is a fun run, and some
people don't run. Walking is perfectly okay. And then we
actually have, like, a a one mile walk set up that if you will
(18:29):
you know, my my parents are in their eighties, and they go out there and
do do the little one one mile walk. And then when we get
done having fun and and realizing what what's going on
and stories. You get all these people out there wearing the shirts.
It's gonna raise awareness. People are gonna go, hey. What's that? What are you doing?
And then everyone gets to wear those shirts at home, and I encourage them to
(18:50):
wear when they're out jogging or working or something just
so someone may ask them what what's the victory lap. And then Yes.
If we can get anyone to take action, even better. Yeah. And then you
can come back and have something to drink and eat. Right? Oh, yeah.
We we don't we pull out the stops. We we believe in celebrations.
We're not just gonna go light on it. We have a live band. We have
(19:13):
a complete complete lunch set up, buffet,
sliders, wings, all those good stuff. We we might even sneak in
a a little champagne here and there to celebrate. So, yeah,
it's a great get together. We have a photo booth set up. We have
a push up contest, so we actually have people doing push ups. You
don't have to do it, but, yeah, the the men and the women, we have
(19:35):
a little contest. But for the most part, it's just kicking back and
relaxing, getting to know people that may be new to our
foundation and, you know, just, again, celebrating each
other. And everyone's gonna have their own victory, and it and it's it's
nice to have a community to do that. Yeah. And, of course,
families can join. Oh, yeah. And it's also a great way
(19:57):
to teach your kids about taking care of your body. Yeah.
Absolutely. The sooner the better is the way I look at it. Yeah.
Prevention is such a important thing. When you turn 50,
generally, you you go and get the the other vaccines. You
get your skin checked more often as you get older. Shingles. You have
to get the shingles vaccine. Yeah. Just a lot of things that you gotta
(20:20):
knock out when you turn 50, but it just so happens coffee
now is 45. So gotta gotta push that date
up. Yeah. Yeah. And and you really
shouldn't be embarrassed about it. There's nothing to be embarrassed about.
I mean, you're not the first patient a doctor sees.
These doctors see hundreds of patients. Okay.
(20:43):
Yeah. So the the crazy thing about a colonoscopy is once
you get in there, you don't remember anything because they give
you a some a little bit of anesthesia, and you
have a good sleep. So you're out probably thirty, forty
five minutes. And, man, it's, like, really good sleep. I don't
know exactly what the anesthesia is, but it's just good enough
(21:05):
to so you don't remember anything. And so it's not like you're in there. You
don't feel pain, nothing like that. You wake up, and and then
they're they're there to give you your results and send you out of your way.
So it's like get results right away? Well, if that everything's
clear or he maybe he had to clip a polyp or
something, he'll let you know right then and there. Okay. He actually give you
(21:28):
photos, which is interesting to see seeing the inside of your colon. Yeah.
But, yeah, you pretty much get the results soon as you get
up. And then, you know, you you can't drive because you have anesthesia, but they
you know, someone drives you. If there is some type of abnormality,
they're gonna do a they're gonna get a sample, and you're gonna have to go
back and see the doctor anyway just to make sure Yeah.
(21:51):
Yeah. So how do we register to
participate in the event? Yeah. So we have a website.
It's at
wwwpushupfoundationHouston.org.
Again, pushupfoundationHouston.org,
and clip clip on click on upcoming events, and
(22:11):
it'll say victory lap, click, and then it says runner registration.
And it's a simple process. For Is there a
fee is there a fee to participate? It's $30
to participate. With that, you get a shirt,
commemorative shirts, and, of course, you get to have free
lunch and a potential mimosa or something
(22:33):
depending on if you if you want that, and then can hang out and listen
to free entertainment and get to meet everyone. That money
is really that allows us to give us a budget to then go
do our awareness campaigns, in hospitals around
town and, just do different events where we set up tables
and hand out different pamphlets and so forth just to get
(22:56):
the word out. Yeah. Basically, fund educational initiatives.
Yes. Exactly. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So what time does this start? Yeah. So we we kick off
at 9AM. We need people will start arriving early as
8AM. We'll have breakfast tacos, coffee, juice
(23:16):
before the race. So if anyone needs a little to to gear up, get some
food going Wake up. Wake up meal. We bring breakfast
tacos from a local taco, place that we really
like. And and then we'll start doing some announcements
around nine, and then we'll be off and running by 09:15.
Most people take forty five minutes or so, get
(23:38):
done, and then the party starts. It really
runs through, like, noon. Great way to start the day. That's
it. We rent out the restaurant, so there's bathrooms there. There's
no issues. No no one else is allowed in but our but our party,
and it's a great great venue. Yeah. Do you need volunteers?
No. No. Hey. Look. We'll take whoever wants to help out,
(24:01):
we'll we'll gladly use their use their talents. But
for the most part, we have my my children are in their
twenties, and they have a lot of friends. And even from
five years ago, they all wanted to pitch in and and help. And so
we've had a good group of volunteers for the last five
years. After the victory lap, we actually come back to our
(24:23):
house, and I cook on lunch and dinner. We hang out here as well all
day just celebrating as well. Yeah. And relaxing.
I'm sure. Yep. But, yes, if if you wanna help out
and and be part of the the calls, hey. We'll we'll definitely talk to you
and try to fit you in. Well, Keith, would you give us the the
address again, please? Yes.
(24:44):
Wwwpushupfoundationhouston.org,0rg.
Simple. It's a it's a great website. There's actually my
story. You can read all about deep detail by detail.
There's a lot of info, pictures, from from when I had my
surgery to going through chemo. I mean, there's all kind of photos on
(25:05):
there, very inspirational things as well. And information about our
board is on there, which is several individuals around town
and including my surgeon, Omar Madriz, who I
credit saving my life by by cutting all that junk out of me. And
then there's the link is on there. So upcoming events,
run a registration, pretty simple thing to to log on.
(25:27):
And then when you we're gonna have a packet pickup a couple days before.
You swing by. There's a an address in the gallery. You can pick up your
packet, or you can get the packet on race day as well. And we
just keep it really simple, and and it's usually really good weather.
We're hoping for that. Again, so Saturday, March
1, meet at Highline Park Restaurant, and that's
(25:50):
right, again, on the Heights Hike And Bike Trail. Super easy to get to.
Yeah. And if we can't make it, we can always donate to your
foundation as well. Yeah. Absolutely. The same the same
website address. There's a there's a way to donate on there as
well. Just click the button. And, yeah, we we appreciate
it. Again, it most of the money that we're collecting
(26:13):
is for awareness and educational campaigns. We
do support some people that are going through
treatments in in different ways that we can do that. But
for the most part, we're we're getting the word out and getting people to take
action. And we've gotten so many people to do that. So it's
our purpose in in life now is to create impact and get people to take
(26:34):
action. Hopefully, you get a lot more this time. Well,
I'm gonna we're gonna keep doing this for the rest of my life. So Got
it. My kids will continue it after that. So many more years to come. Well,
Keith, thank you so very much for sharing your story
with your experience with, colon
cancer and just for encouraging us to get
(26:56):
checked. Yes, ma'am. Because as you mentioned, this type of cancer
can be prevented. And as before, we
were mentioning, there's no reason to be afraid
or to even be embarrassed about doing something like that.
Not at all. And and, of course, everybody can join the
the run on March 1 in The Heights. Look forward to
(27:18):
seeing everyone. Thank you. And, of course, as well, I
would like to thank you for joining me for this edition
of Spotlight Houston. And if you have any comments or story ideas,
please let me know. Thank you. Welcome.
No no one ever told me. 45. And so I just
decided I we needed to let everyone know that
that's the new age. They they it's been pushed up. So
my wife and I and my my children, we came up with the
name. Let's let's create a five zero one c three and call it the push
up foundation to get people to push up the age to
(00:21):
45. A colonoscopy, there's things that get pushed up in you too. You
don't feel it because you're asleep, but they they have to go check things. So
so we created it, and and I said, as soon as I get done with
chemo, most people wanna ring a bell and do that. I I said, I wanna
go see my friends. And and then we were coming out of COVID about this
time, and so we we said, let's let's have a victory lap.
(00:42):
Let let's do a let's do a five day. Let's and I said, let's just
go to Memorial Park, and we'll we'll just walk around the
park, and we'll get everyone shirts. The the colorectal
awareness month color is is blue. And I I said,
let's get everyone a shirt, and we'll have a sea of blue walking around
Memorial Park. So everyone will ask, hey. Hey. What are you guys
(01:04):
doing? Well, what is this all about? Yeah. People get curious.
Yes. Just to spread the word. And then we set up a little
table. We had some app like, drinks and stuff afterwards. Had a
little party. And that first one, we we probably had about a
hundred people show up, and that was great, and it was fun.
(01:28):
Thank you for joining us for another episode of Spotlight Houston, where we bring
you the best people, places, and events in Greater Houston. March is
colon cancer awareness month. And did you know that colon cancer is one
of the most preventable cancers? Early detection through routine
screening can make all the difference. Keith Rollins, founder of the Push Up
Foundation and a stage three colon cancer survivor, joins
(01:51):
us today to share his journey on why he's on a mission to educate
the community about the importance of getting screened before age
45. Through the Push Up Foundation, Keith and his team are
spreading awareness, helping people take charge of their health, and hosting the
five k annual victory lap on Saturday,
03/01/2025 at Highline Park in The Heights.
(02:12):
This event brings together survivors, caregivers, and supporters
to celebrate life, honor loved ones, and encourage prevention. If you've
ever wondered how a simple screening could save your life or how you can make
a difference, this is the episode for you. This is episode number one
twenty six of with an original air date of Monday,
02/24/2025. Spotlight Houston is brought
(02:33):
to you by STORYzone Media. And now here's your host, Blanca
Quesada. Hi, everybody. Did
you know that March kicks off colorectal cancer
awareness? It's very important because, you know,
it's a type of cancer that can be prevented.
So early detection is definitely very important.
(02:55):
You need to find out as much as you can about
colon cancer awareness, what the symptoms
are, what you need to do. So in order to
get a lot of that information, you don't have to call the doctor
right now. You can or should attend
the Push Up Foundation's fifth annual victory lap
(03:18):
five k on Saturday, March 1 at
Highland Park in The Heights to to kick
off colon cancer awareness month. This is a
family friendly event that brings
survivors, families, and advocates together to
promote colon cancer prevention and, of course,
(03:40):
helping to save your life. So so as I mentioned
before, saving, making sure that you get
early screenings is really important. So
founded by Houston resident and colon
cancer survivor, Keith Rollins, who is
just having a blast putting this event together.
(04:02):
He is the Push Up Foundation, as I mentioned, founder,
and it is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to raising awareness about colon cancer,
which is the third most diagnosed cancer among
men and women. Since its inception, the
foundation has inspired countless individuals to share their
(04:24):
stories and prioritize their health. So today, I've
invited Keith to talk to us about this journey or
his journey, actually, as a survivor and why
he thought it was important for him to create
the Push Up Foundation. Welcome, Keith. Thank you so much,
Blanca. So it's great to have you here and
(04:46):
especially to hear your personal experience with colon
cancer. And so, first of all, what
made you decide to go and get checked? So it
was out of the ordinary, frankly. I was always told
that the age to get a colonoscopy was the age of 50.
Mhmm. And so at the age of 49, during COVID,
(05:09):
I was doing a workout, and I felt a twinge on
my backside. And I thought, well, that that seems
weird, like a sharp pain. And so I had my wife take
a take a look, and she thought it was an ingrown
hair. But I wanted to make sure, so I called a,
surgeon friend of mine, and I said, I need to get this checked. Can I
(05:32):
come by and see you? And he said, well, I'm busy, but here's here's my
buddy. Give him a call. And so I called him and he said,
yeah. I have time. You can come in. He's a colorectal
surgeon. I had never met him before, but I went in and
I said, I have this I think it's an ingrown hair, but can you check
just to make sure? And he said, well, sure. But while you're here,
(05:54):
have you got your colonoscopy yet? I said, no. I'm 49. And
he said, well, the new recommended age is 45.
I said, well, I didn't know. I did not know that. Okay. I said, well,
let's schedule a colonoscopy. And he said, well, while you're here,
I'll I'll do a quick rectal exam just to make sure everything's
okay. I said, hey. Whatever. So I got on the
(06:16):
table. The ingrown hair was in fact just that. It was
an ingrown hair that had got infected. But when he did
some examination, he saw a polyp, and he said,
hey. We need to get that removed, and we definitely need to
schedule a colonoscopy. And I said, great. So a couple weeks later, went
in for the colonoscopy, and the polyp was just something
(06:39):
simple. He was able to remove that. But as he traveled up
my colon, he found that abnormality. I wasn't supposed to
be there, did a biopsy. And when I woke up,
he was standing there and he said, I found something abnormal, and
we're going to have to send it to pathology. And I'll need to see
you in a in a week or two. And right away, we kinda felt
(07:01):
that abnormal in a colon probably means
cancer. And so we were on we were very calm. We're
very I have a faith that I just keep really calm in in
situations like this. And so about a week week and a half
went by, we went in to see him, and he said, you do in fact
have colon cancer. And I said, we were taken aback to a
(07:23):
certain extent. Every the first time you hear that, it's a it's a little
strange. And he said, the first thing we need to do is to see
if it has spread in your body to other organs. And I
said, well, let's do the test right now. Yeah.
Well, you've gotta talk to my team. We've gotta get that scheduled.
So I actually did it the next day. And first thing in
(07:46):
the morning, did the CT scan, and then I went and played golf
with my buddies. Just Yeah. Why not? Mine. I I didn't wanna think about
it. And I think it was the eleventh or twelfth hole. I
received a phone call, and and thank God it had not spread.
But, definitely, I I needed a surgery to remove the,
the cancer. So I said, well, let's go. Let's get let's get it
(08:09):
done. Yeah. So the quickest we could get in was probably
two weeks later, and he went in and removed
ten inches of my colon, reattached it back together. And when
he when he did that, they also take fat around that
area and lymph nodes. And I believe he took, like,
twenty three lymph nodes, and three of them were cancerous,
(08:32):
which means most likely I'd have to do chemotherapy
to make sure nothing microscopic is going on. Prevention.
Right. So went and saw it on saw a couple different oncologists,
MBA Anderson and Texas Oncology. They both
recommended the same thing, the same treatment, and they said, just go
(08:52):
whatever is the most convenient. And so Texas Oncology
and doctor Hsu, they were only about fifteen minutes from my house.
And so a month after surgery, I started 12
rounds of chemotherapy, once every two weeks. And I think the
doctor got all the cancer out. This was the chemo is really designed just
to go burn out any any cells that are floating in my
(09:15):
body. And and so got through that. That was,
more of a mental grind. There was physical grind, but very mental
getting through it. It was during COVID, so I was actually working from
home, and I was working. I I worked every single day going
through chemo at a tube running on my chest and,
just kept working. My days were a little slower because it started to wear me
(09:37):
down, but I was able to get through it. During the chemotherapy
process, I was started I was pissed because no one had told
me that the recommended age was 45 to
get colonoscopy. Right. I I went to doctor. I got physicals and
all this stuff. No no one ever told me. 45. And so I
just decided I we needed to let everyone know that
(10:00):
that's the new age. They they it's been pushed up. So
my wife and I and my my children, we came up with the
name. Let's let's create a five zero one c three and call it the push
up foundation to get people to push up the age to
45. A colonoscopy, there's things that get pushed up in you too. You
don't feel it because you're asleep, but they they have to go check things. So
(10:22):
so we created it, and and I said, as soon as I get done with
chemo, most people wanna ring a bell and do that. I I said, I wanna
go see my friends. And and then we were coming out of COVID about this
time, and so we we said, let's let's have a victory lap.
Let let's do a let's do a five thing. And I said, let's just go
to Memorial Park, and we'll we'll just walk around the park,
(10:42):
and we'll get everyone shirts. The the colorectal
awareness month color is is blue. And I said,
let's get everyone a shirt, and we'll have a sea of blue walking around
Memorial Park. So everyone will ask, hey. Hey. What are you guys
doing? Well, what is this all about? Yeah. People get curious.
Yes. Just to spread the word. And then we set up a little
(11:04):
table. We had some app like, drinks and stuff afterwards, had a
little party. And that first one, we we probably had about a
hundred people show up, and that was great, and it was fun. And then,
we really we weren't trying to raise money. It was more about It was
that money to awareness. We started buying bracelets and
and pamphlets and putting it in doctor's offices. And so that
(11:27):
that was really good. That helped out. And then it was just put it on
social media, so word-of-mouth was getting around. People started
texting me and calling me. Hey. I'm I'm gonna go do this because of you.
And so that that was great. And now fast forward, we're about
to do our fifth victory lap. So five years of
raising awareness and and love to just let you know I I have
(11:49):
not had any recurrence. I do CT scans on a regular
basis and colonoscopies every year, and they got
no reoccurrence and things are moving in the right direction. Yeah.
Thank God you've been blessed. Yes, ma'am. No question. No
question. Of course, we're we people call us now and
say, hey. I've got a friend that is going through cancer
(12:11):
treatment. And I've called and talked to different people just to help them
with how I handled it and what I needed. And really let
them be a part of our foundation and our victory
lap. Let them come out with their with their family and friends.
And thank goodness a lot of these people are getting through it just like I
did. And then we're getting people just showing up. Word-of-mouth has gotten around.
(12:33):
We've had some television coverage and so forth. And so now this fifth
year, we actually were introduced to an HPD
canine officer named Bob Opperman, who had stage
four colon cancer. And so we are supporting him,
and and he's gonna join us at the victory lap with his
canine dog, Novak, and he'll he'll be there.
(12:56):
He is in remission. He is cancer free as well, but
he had a very extensive surgery. He was out of work for a year. He
is now back on the force, and, so we're
championing him. And then a couple other people in our community that,
have also recovered. So lots of survivors, lots
of family members will be there. And, of course, some people didn't make it, so
(13:18):
we're remembering them as well as we do our victory
lap. Yeah. So, Keith, you didn't feel any pain at
all? No. No. I colon cancer is is kind of
the silent killer. Right? I had no blockage. I I'll
tell you, from time to time, I I mighta had a
little blood in my stool, and I thought, oh, it's a hemorrhoid.
(13:40):
Oh, it was a spicy food or something. And I and I
should've listened to myself because I knew it wasn't correct, but it's where it
would stop. And I think that could have been,
a signal that I should have taken action a little bit before, but I had
no pain. Zero. And I was functioning. I'm I'm an athlete. I
was functioning normal workouts, no issues. And,
(14:03):
ultimately, again, if I had gone at 45, I don't think I would
have had to do chemo. It could have been a simple polyp that they could
have fixed. These polyps are really slow growing type things in your
body. And so they it's very natural to have
polyps. So the doc can go in and and clip them off, and that's
why you go every couple years. If you don't have any, you don't have to
(14:25):
go for ten years. Right? So Right. Everyone's a little bit different. So no.
No pain at all. So it doesn't matter if you have pain or not. You
you need to get this done at forty five. Yeah. If you're older than 45,
not too late. Go go get it checked out and make sure to take care
of yourself. Yeah. So did you have to take the liquid and
everything before you went in for your your checkup? Yeah. My
(14:47):
colonoscopy. Yeah. Clearly, for them to
get a good look at your colon, it needs to be empty.
Right. Cool. Yeah. They they they give you you know, it's
changed. I mean, some some people just do, like, Metamucil. Now
they have some other types of liquids that isn't maybe as intense
that causes you to basically empty your colon.
(15:09):
Yeah. So for a couple hours, you're gonna go to the restroom and take it
out. Yeah. Have it cleanse. Years years ago that
they were intense. Those liquids were intense. And Yep. People
that's I think that's why people really didn't want to do it
because they didn't want to go through that preparation in order to
have the colonoscopy. Well, it's a lot better than taking chemotherapy.
(15:31):
I promise you so. Oh, yes. Yes. A little bit of sacrifice
upfront could, meet all the difference. Yeah. Other
than the symptoms that you had, what other type of symptoms should
we look for? Yeah. I I think any type of
stomach pain, of course. I I think it's any blood in your
stool, any just abnormal anything abnormal.
(15:53):
Right? So you should have normal go to the restroom like a normal
person. Right? And so if anything seems weird, you gotta
listen to your body, talk to your personal physician,
but, you know, ultimately, you have to be an advocate for yourself. You you
just why not go get it checked out? Right? I mean, that that's what it's
for. So Yeah. I I would suggest any abnormal
(16:16):
anything. It's it's worth getting it checked out. Again, if you're
younger than 45, and it's probably is nothing, but it's I
think it's always wise to get it checked. Yeah. I can also give you a
story. I had a friend who went in just for her regular
prevention care, and she was also diagnosed with
the polyp that was just wrong. And they did I don't
(16:37):
remember how much they had to cut out, but they did. And she
didn't have to go through chemo. She didn't have to radiation,
nothing because those cancer cells hadn't
spread. That's right. So, and she was a stage three.
So she's been doing great. Yep. So Well, it's
highly preventable. Yeah. You know, if you if you ignore her, if you don't
(17:00):
get tested and that thing can keep continue to grow, and the next
thing you know, it can get into your body and start spreading, and that's
that's not what you want. Yeah. Well, I think your event is a
great event because people can go and hear, you
know, survivors' testimonies That's right. Hear their
stories and and realize that it's not as bad
(17:22):
as it sounds. That's right. Yeah. It's it's a great I mean,
love is in the air. Right? We're we're coming together,
family, friends. We we do a little we have a couple different people
that do, quick testimonials. We, our
surgeon the surgeon who operated on me comes and just talks about the
latest in in prevention, what's going on in the medical
(17:44):
community. And then we we we've had where we we might sing a
song, inspirational song. Sometimes we have a
celebrity starter. We're working on that right now. Oh,
great. And then we just take off. This is actually the
Heights Hike and bike Trail. We we meet at High Line
Park Restaurant. Highline Park is not an actual park. It's a restaurant
(18:07):
off I 10 in Shepherd, North of I 10. And we meet
at Highline Park, and then we we talk a little bit,
inspiration. We all take off. It's a it's a
five k that is a fun run, and some
people don't run. Walking is perfectly okay. And then we
actually have, like, a a one mile walk set up that if you will
(18:29):
you know, my my parents are in their eighties, and they go out there and
do do the little one one mile walk. And then when we get
done having fun and and realizing what what's going on
and stories. You get all these people out there wearing the shirts.
It's gonna raise awareness. People are gonna go, hey. What's that? What are you doing?
And then everyone gets to wear those shirts at home, and I encourage them to
(18:50):
wear when they're out jogging or working or something just
so someone may ask them what what's the victory lap. And then Yes.
If we can get anyone to take action, even better. Yeah. And then you
can come back and have something to drink and eat. Right? Oh, yeah.
We we don't we pull out the stops. We we believe in celebrations.
We're not just gonna go light on it. We have a live band. We have
(19:13):
a complete complete lunch set up, buffet,
sliders, wings, all those good stuff. We we might even sneak in
a a little champagne here and there to celebrate. So, yeah,
it's a great get together. We have a photo booth set up. We have
a push up contest, so we actually have people doing push ups. You
don't have to do it, but, yeah, the the men and the women, we have
(19:35):
a little contest. But for the most part, it's just kicking back and
relaxing, getting to know people that may be new to our
foundation and, you know, just, again, celebrating each
other. And everyone's gonna have their own victory, and it and it's it's
nice to have a community to do that. Yeah. And, of course,
families can join. Oh, yeah. And it's also a great way
(19:57):
to teach your kids about taking care of your body. Yeah.
Absolutely. The sooner the better is the way I look at it. Yeah.
Prevention is such a important thing. When you turn 50,
generally, you you go and get the the other vaccines. You
get your skin checked more often as you get older. Shingles. You have
to get the shingles vaccine. Yeah. Just a lot of things that you gotta
(20:20):
knock out when you turn 50, but it just so happens coffee
now is 45. So gotta gotta push that date
up. Yeah. Yeah. And and you really
shouldn't be embarrassed about it. There's nothing to be embarrassed about.
I mean, you're not the first patient a doctor sees.
These doctors see hundreds of patients. Okay.
(20:43):
Yeah. So the the crazy thing about a colonoscopy is once
you get in there, you don't remember anything because they give
you a some a little bit of anesthesia, and you
have a good sleep. So you're out probably thirty, forty
five minutes. And, man, it's, like, really good sleep. I don't
know exactly what the anesthesia is, but it's just good enough
(21:05):
to so you don't remember anything. And so it's not like you're in there. You
don't feel pain, nothing like that. You wake up, and and then
they're they're there to give you your results and send you out of your way.
So it's like get results right away? Well, if that everything's
clear or he maybe he had to clip a polyp or
something, he'll let you know right then and there. Okay. He actually give you
(21:28):
photos, which is interesting to see seeing the inside of your colon. Yeah.
But, yeah, you pretty much get the results soon as you get
up. And then, you know, you you can't drive because you have anesthesia, but they
you know, someone drives you. If there is some type of abnormality,
they're gonna do a they're gonna get a sample, and you're gonna have to go
back and see the doctor anyway just to make sure Yeah.
(21:51):
Yeah. So how do we register to
participate in the event? Yeah. So we have a website.
It's at
wwwpushupfoundationHouston.org.
Again, pushupfoundationHouston.org,
and clip clip on click on upcoming events, and
(22:11):
it'll say victory lap, click, and then it says runner registration.
And it's a simple process. For Is there a
fee is there a fee to participate? It's $30
to participate. With that, you get a shirt,
commemorative shirts, and, of course, you get to have free
lunch and a potential mimosa or something
(22:33):
depending on if you if you want that, and then can hang out and listen
to free entertainment and get to meet everyone. That money
is really that allows us to give us a budget to then go
do our awareness campaigns, in hospitals around
town and, just do different events where we set up tables
and hand out different pamphlets and so forth just to get
(22:56):
the word out. Yeah. Basically, fund educational initiatives.
Yes. Exactly. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So what time does this start? Yeah. So we we kick off
at 9AM. We need people will start arriving early as
8AM. We'll have breakfast tacos, coffee, juice
(23:16):
before the race. So if anyone needs a little to to gear up, get some
food going Wake up. Wake up meal. We bring breakfast
tacos from a local taco, place that we really
like. And and then we'll start doing some announcements
around nine, and then we'll be off and running by 09:15.
Most people take forty five minutes or so, get
(23:38):
done, and then the party starts. It really
runs through, like, noon. Great way to start the day. That's
it. We rent out the restaurant, so there's bathrooms there. There's
no issues. No no one else is allowed in but our but our party,
and it's a great great venue. Yeah. Do you need volunteers?
No. No. Hey. Look. We'll take whoever wants to help out,
(24:01):
we'll we'll gladly use their use their talents. But
for the most part, we have my my children are in their
twenties, and they have a lot of friends. And even from
five years ago, they all wanted to pitch in and and help. And so
we've had a good group of volunteers for the last five
years. After the victory lap, we actually come back to our
(24:23):
house, and I cook on lunch and dinner. We hang out here as well all
day just celebrating as well. Yeah. And relaxing.
I'm sure. Yep. But, yes, if if you wanna help out
and and be part of the the calls, hey. We'll we'll definitely talk to you
and try to fit you in. Well, Keith, would you give us the the
address again, please? Yes.
(24:44):
Wwwpushupfoundationhouston.org,0rg.
Simple. It's a it's a great website. There's actually my
story. You can read all about deep detail by detail.
There's a lot of info, pictures, from from when I had my
surgery to going through chemo. I mean, there's all kind of photos on
(25:05):
there, very inspirational things as well. And information about our
board is on there, which is several individuals around town
and including my surgeon, Omar Madriz, who I
credit saving my life by by cutting all that junk out of me. And
then there's the link is on there. So upcoming events,
run a registration, pretty simple thing to to log on.
(25:27):
And then when you we're gonna have a packet pickup a couple days before.
You swing by. There's a an address in the gallery. You can pick up your
packet, or you can get the packet on race day as well. And we
just keep it really simple, and and it's usually really good weather.
We're hoping for that. Again, so Saturday, March
1, meet at Highline Park Restaurant, and that's
(25:50):
right, again, on the Heights Hike And Bike Trail. Super easy to get to.
Yeah. And if we can't make it, we can always donate to your
foundation as well. Yeah. Absolutely. The same the same
website address. There's a there's a way to donate on there as
well. Just click the button. And, yeah, we we appreciate
it. Again, it most of the money that we're collecting
(26:13):
is for awareness and educational campaigns. We
do support some people that are going through
treatments in in different ways that we can do that. But
for the most part, we're we're getting the word out and getting people to take
action. And we've gotten so many people to do that. So it's
our purpose in in life now is to create impact and get people to take
(26:34):
action. Hopefully, you get a lot more this time. Well,
I'm gonna we're gonna keep doing this for the rest of my life. So Got
it. My kids will continue it after that. So many more years to come. Well,
Keith, thank you so very much for sharing your story
with your experience with, colon
cancer and just for encouraging us to get
(26:56):
checked. Yes, ma'am. Because as you mentioned, this type of cancer
can be prevented. And as before, we
were mentioning, there's no reason to be afraid
or to even be embarrassed about doing something like that.
Not at all. And and, of course, everybody can join the
the run on March 1 in The Heights. Look forward to
(27:18):
seeing everyone. Thank you. And, of course, as well, I
would like to thank you for joining me for this edition
of Spotlight Houston. And if you have any comments or story ideas,
please let me know. Thank you. Welcome.
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