Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark and the Georgia
News Network. Colorectal cancer is on the rise and it's
a second leading cause of cancer, morbidity and mortality in Georgia.
We're hoping to save lives by encouraging people to get screened.
Here today talk about that is Sam Askarion, MD, Vice
President of Clinical Development and Screening at Guardian Health, and
Elizabeth Zskolowski speaking about her husband Chris Zerkolowski, who passed
(00:35):
away from colon cancer. Well, first of all, what is
colo rectal cancer? Sam?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Colorectal cancer is basically, you know, cells in the colon
that get mutated and turn into tumors and so ultimately
leading to what is currently the second leading cause of
cancer deaths in the United States today. So it's something
that we are not one hundred percent sure but think
that it's.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Cause by diet, exercise, some of your.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Genetics, those types of things around your lifestyle that ultimately,
as you age, your risk for it goes up.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
They don't understand why it's become the second worst cancer.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's unfortunate, right, So a lot of things around our diet,
potentially the things that we ingest are, pollution in the air.
Those types of things are definitely causing more of it
and causing it to occur earlier on in life than
in the past. One of the things that's really important
that we do understand though, is catching it early can
actually beat it. So the odds of survival if you
(01:33):
catch colon cancer in its earliest stages are ninety one percent. Unfortunately, though,
if you don't catch it, it's as low as fourteen
percent in those later stages.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow, how do you catch it? How do you catch
it quickly?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The best news is there's multiple different screening tests for it,
So you have a conversation with your primary care doctor
or any doctor that you go see that really is, hey,
am I at risk for it?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Do I have any signs.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And symptom The most common test that's ordered is the
colonoscopy that a lot of people are familiar with. It's
a more invasive test. You do have to take some
time off for it. You have to prep for it.
There are at home stool tests, so these are you
can provide a sample of your stool, send it out
that can be processed and look for signs of colon
(02:22):
cancer and then there's a new test, the Shield test,
that was FDA approved last year. It came out last August,
and it's the first ever blood test that's approved by
the FDA and covered by Medicare that screens for colon
cancer with just a simple blood draw that you can
have done at your doctor's office or anywhere the blood
is drawn.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I just had my physical yesterday. It's funny you mentioned that,
and they did. They do that, They drew it and
the blood is drawn and that's there you go. It's
it's included with other things too, and so this is
so simple to do it at the doctor's office, you.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Know exactly, it's a much simpler test. You don't to
your point, you don't have to take any extra time off.
It's already a part of whatever your appointment was. I'm
really glad to hear you did it as part of
an annual exam.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
It'd be incorporated that way. And it's exactly that. It's screening.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So it's really just the check to say, Okay, I've
checked your blood sugars, you know, I've checked other things,
and I'm gonna check to see if there's any signs
of colon cancer in your blood.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
With this additional test that I can order now.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I had the colonosco be done about three three or
four months ago or something like that. It was clean,
But I'm glad I took the extra time off and
the time the time to do the necessary stuff you do.
You know that it may all make sense to me.
It does it to some people. They're too embarrassed or whatever.
I just get it. I would rather get it than
colon cancer, you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's the way that I always tell people, and the
way I always kind of explained it to my patients
when I was practicing, is it's no.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Different than wearing your seat belt. Right. We do it
because we know it's going to give us the highest
chance of survival if something goes wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Right, ninety nine percent of the time, hopefully nothing goes wrong,
but if it does, you war your seatbelt, you're much safer.
You've got a higher chance of survival. If you get
colon cancer screening, you have a much higher chance of
survival because it can be caught early and doctors now
have a chance to cure the disease versus just treating
it right.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Right, What are some of the treatment options available when
you get it.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's it's The other good news is it's it's advanced,
meaning that we've we've done a lot of scientific breakthroughs
to be able to treat it as best as we can.
With any type of cancer, you really kind of look
at the three options, right.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
There's cutting it so surgical options.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Burning it so radiation therapy, or kind of chemically kind
of treating it so it dies out, which is chemotherapy.
So there are all those options available to doctors. Even
at Garden, we have other tests that are downstream once
you've been diagnosed that actually think about how best the
tumor that's present could be treated. So you're not just
(05:00):
going at it with, hey, here are some options, but
instead you're saying, hey, here's the exact type of colon
cancer that we believe you have, and here are some
really really effective treatment options for the type of colon
cancer that you have. So the good news is there's
lots of precision medicine out there and a lot of
options for doctors to be able to choose the best
treatment that's right for the patient.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And to that, do you get to do you according
to what you've got? Do you choose what doctor whethers
urologist or a regular surgeon or oncologists do you choose
like that?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, so you know before you are diagnosed and it's
just screening. This really does fall into the kind of
the wheelhouse of the primary care doctor working in coordination
with a gastro intestinal specialist, right, so the GI docs
really do specialize in this area. Of course, the colon
is right there and the you know, in that type
of system, if it's diagnosed, absolutely you really want to
(05:55):
have an oncologist on board. So you have your medical
oncologists who understand kind of the different drug treatments, and
then of course you have your surgical oncologists that really
can't go out there and kind of look at this
from a surgery standpoint and really treat the disease and
try to impact your quality of life as little as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right now, Unfortunately, there are are it varies by race.
Black and African American people they get it more.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Why is that, we don't know yet. It's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Not only do we see a higher percentage of Black
and African American individuals get.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
The disease, it's actually more deadly.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So they have a lot of times up to forty
percent mortality, which is higher.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Than in other races and ethnicities. We do really think
that there is.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That link to diet, right, so you know, this is
it truly is what people are preaching. Having a healthy
high fiber much more organic diet is better, you know.
And also the unfortunate part of this too is in
the African American comunity, we've seen more screening, so they
actually are getting screened more, but the disease is taken
(07:05):
a higher toll.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So of course there could be a genetic component involved.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
A lot of research is being done, and again kind
of the overlying themes all of this is the best
way to combat it is getting screened and getting screened earlier.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
What about you know we talk about no, no, you
talk about it when we talk about it. You think
men get it all men, but women can get it
too though.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Right, absolutely, it's a little bit higher percentage in men
than women, but it's not that far off from being
evenly split. So men do get it a little bit
earlier in age two. So a lot of times doctors
will advocate that men are getting screened sooner. Guidelines today
really kind of recommend that anyone forty five and older
(07:51):
the screened for colorectal cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That's actually new about five years ago. That used to
be people fifty years and older.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
So we've really kind of dropped the guidelines as we're
starting to see this earlier.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We do see it a little bit more common in
men than women to your point.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But absolutely this is a disease that affects both genders
almost equally.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
That's probably should say a lot of lies dropping it earlier.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Right, absolutely, right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So the way that you know, I truly do think
about this is one hundred and fifty thousand Americans last
year we're diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, over fifty thousand
Americans died from the disease. Those fifty thousand, seventy five
percent of them were either not screened or late or delayed.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
In their screening. So this is one of those.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
We really truly believe a lot can be done if
you catch it early and we can reduce those numbers.
We want to see the diagnoses drop, but more importantly,
we want to see the number of deaths drop. Lung
cancer is still the deadliest cancer by number of deaths
per year, but colon cancer is right behind it at
number two.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Just get screened. That's all you gotta do. Get screen
when you go to that.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Absolutely, Yeah, have that conversation with your talktor. There's options
to your point. You know a lot of people people
are opting in and getting those colonoscopies, but those people
that are hesitant, there's other options. And really, truly less
than a year, we've seen so many people talk to
their doctors and have the Shield test ordered.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
So now you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Worry about some of those inconvenient or unpleasant options. You
can just have a blood draw, no different than the
blood draws that you normally get in your doctor's.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Offen right, Right, it's so simple to do. It's so simple.
You just get it done and you don't even know
it to do it with all the others.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It takes minutes, the blood's drawn, the results come back
within two weeks maximum.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
The physician and the patient have those results.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
If it's negative, you can go about your life, enjoy
it without having to worry about it for another three years.
So the test is recommended every three years. If it
is positive, then then you can go get the colonoscopy.
And the cool part about a kolonoscopy is not only
does it diagnose, but you can treat because.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You're using tools that are kind of there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You can buyop see the tumors, and sometimes you can
even remove the tumors in the procedure.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So that's that's one thing they do in the colonagamy then, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Right, it's very unique.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, So it's actually diagnosing and treating at times because
you just are able not only to visualize, but access
that area and then be able to kind of then
truly remove certain tumors or suspicious masses that you think
are tumors and then be able to kind of test
those and see if they were actually cancer.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Certain Now that's pretty easy.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that's why a lot of people do get it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And again, sixty percent of Americans who are forty five
and above are being screened, right, that's great news. It's
the forty percent who are currently not getting screened that
are eligible too that we really want to give them
more options and be able to kind of put them
in the pool of people that are getting screened.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Is there a website you can look at look to
go find out more about this?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, absolutely so, if you're a physician, and you're curious
about this.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We see a lot of physicians.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Are starting to order this, or if you're a patient
or you've got a loved one and you're curious to
learn more about it. Everything is accessible at shield cancer
screen dot com. That's shield cancer screen dot com. A
lot of patient information pamphlets and you can kind of
sign up to learn more and have people reach out
to kind of tell you more about the test.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Great, well, thank you so much for this. And it's
so easy, so easy to get done, so easy.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Absolutely, yeah, No, it's a great time to go out
there make an appointment or use the existing point when
you have to have that conversation with your doctor.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
So when you get when you get one type, does
it grow pretty fast? This is cancer?
Speaker 4 (11:34):
You know, it depends on what stage you're at. I
do believe there's different types, Like there's colon cancer and
it's in my husband's case, he had a certain type
of mutation that the cancer cells just kept developing. It
was that you couldn't turn it off, so he ended
up getting in six places. I was messaging with a
(11:57):
friend of mine way early this morning. Her husband's going
through it too. But yes, if you catch it too late,
it spreads and your chances of survival draw stressically.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Is it? Is that the main reason it spreads or
the main reason does it people don't catch it soon enough?
Is that how you do it?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Yees?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And what does that involve?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Catch it?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
So there's different you mean how to catch it?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah? How do you catch it soon enough? Through through
a physical.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, no, you either catch it either going to get
like a colonoscopy is the standard way the gold star
to go out. There is colonoscopy forty five and they
change the age. But there's also shield test, which is
the new blood test that's come out, and that's also
(12:49):
another way that you can get catch the colon cancer early.
And then there's also other ways like color guard and other.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Ways as well.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Now, is that the blood test, the blood test during
connect catch it as well as the colonoscopy.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
So the colonosopy is the best way to find it
because they're actually you know, going in and physically looking
at your colon and other areas. But with the shield test,
it does it's a way for you when you're going
into the doctor anyways, then you're given blood, you can
give an extra tube and get your that can. I
(13:28):
didn't detect colon cancer through that way as well. Okay,
the blood test, so it's a blood a less invasive
way for people to get tested because a lot of
people with the colonoscopy, you have to prepare the day before,
you have to take that day off of work. So
there's a lot more involved with the colonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
But it is the best way to I do it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I just had that done about six months ago and
I was it was clean. It was great, was clean,
everything was great. I'm glad I went through. I went
to the extra steps to have it, you know, and
I feel good about that.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it is definitely the best
thing to do and you get the best sleep and
you're cleaned out.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Are your hare and you can go eat eat. So
did your husband have colonoscoby? Is that what he had
to do eventually?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Well? No, The way that he found his was it
was May of two thousand and twenty one. He was
having gurgling in the stomach and they thought it was
assid replex but when they gave a mess and it
wasn't going away, so they did a scan and that
(14:46):
they found a mass on this colon and spots on
those liver and so his doctor said, you need to
go see.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I guess you're all just a sap.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Unfortunately, that was right before Memorial Days of a lot
of the doct doors were gone, but we got it
scheduled and they did that and then they did a
biopsy and that's how we knew it was definitely stage
four colon cancer.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And did he passed away from that?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
He did, he did.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
I'm sorry to hear that, thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But as with him going through this, he went through
every chance, every thing you could do to get rid
of it.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Right, Oh, yes, yes, absolutely, because it was a big shot.
He didn't have a history of it, and he went
to the doctor for everything. I mean, he was at
the doctor the following December and they said he was
our man. So yes, he did. They just changed the
age of forty five, two weeks before we found out
(15:46):
he had it. And I'm glad that they've changed the
age because it's catching people are catching it a lot sooner. Yeah,
But unfortunately, by the time we found out, it already
spread to six places. Was he he was at that time?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
He was forty eight forty eight.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So he was right. He was right there at it.
So now it's they have lowered the age so people
can go in earlier and get it.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Mm hmm, right, because he died at fifty, so he
didn't survive long once we found it and there you know,
it's a sneaky cancer. Yeah, you know it's hard to
catch it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, it is that. It is hard to catch it.
They say it's really hard. Is that true?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is true. It is very much true.
I've had lots of other family members to it too,
and that's you know, the only way you can catch
it is doing a coronoscopy, a shield test, and there's
other forms too, But you have to be proactive, you do.
You have to do what you need to do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So what would you encourage people to do to to
make sure they don't have color rectoral cancer?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
To follow the guidelines that are out there to get
a colonoscopy at forty five. If you don't want to
do that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
They're shielled.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
The other option is too, if you know that it's
in your family history, start talking to your doctors sooner
than later, even before age forty five if you're at
the rest, so that you can partner with your doctor
and even have it sooner if you are eligible for
(17:31):
that right.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And usually you know, people I don't know that they
don't go to doctor. I go to doctor.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
I go.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
The least thing I go, I go. And so I'm
always as foreign to me when people have these things
sometimes because I go all the time, and I realize
a friends of mine that don't. And it's really worth going,
you know, Oh it is.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Because if you catch it early.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
If you catch colon cancer early, it's ninety one percent.
You have a five year survival rate if you catch
it early. But there's only one way to catch it
early or to you know, multiple ways that you have
to go get that test. If you see someone going
through colon cancer and the stuff that they have to
(18:19):
go through, then you will want to hear that and
see that you're going to go get it done because
you're not going to want to go to day and
you're not going to go and buy any of your
family to go through it either.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And now men and women can both get that, right.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yes, they sure can. Yes, men and women does not discriminate.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I know, because a lot of times they're thinking about
you know, it's just men. Men men get it, but
the women get it too, and they should can get
go get the colonoscay.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Right, Yes, men and women both can go get the colonoscopy.
It is recommended it at forty five purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I guess you know men are embarrassed by getting the colonoscopy,
but it's not. It's not embarrassing at all. It's really not.
And uh, just go get it, that's the thing about it.
Just get it, and you know when you're done, and it.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Doesn't take long, Yes, it does not take long. No,
it's a you know when you have the shield test.
So if you don't want to go get actual klonoscopy
due to time or your job, you're going to feel
great afterwards. You're going to get a good night or
good sleep and feel cleaned.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
And you know, you don't even know that you're having
it done.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You just used to lay there and go to sleep
and in a few minutes later you wake up and
it's done.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. Well, I know you you want to encourage people
to go and get taken care of, but obviously you
can you can certainly tell them why they should do it.
Take taken care of and do you do you have
up occasions like, well you do. You're having a chance
to tell us today, but to tell people about it, like, hey,
my husband who passed away from this, don't do that.
(20:06):
Don't let that happen to your husband or you are
your spouch or whoever.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm big on early detection and spread. In his story,
it was very important to him, and I want to
keep it going and you know, spreading his story so
that people know this is not something that you get
because you're older or Janet. It could be anyone can
(20:33):
get this cancer and the senior they catch you catch it,
the better off here going to be in the higher
of your survivo.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Right had now, this is this is a tough question.
But had he found out earlier, would could he have survived? Yes,
he could have. I could have.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yes, if he would have gone at forty five, they
could have pulled out polyps and that was it.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, they just changed that age right before we found out.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Right right, I'm so sorry about him, But you can
you can let other people know about it, and you
are doing that and doing a great job of it.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
That's Elizabeth Sokolowski thinking about her husband Chris, who passed
away from colon cancer, and Sam Asgarian, MD, Vice President
of Clinical Development of Screening at Guardian Health. People and
physicians who are interested in learning more can reach out
at Shieldcancer screen dot com. Across the country, access to
healthcare and rural areas is in a crisis. Mercy University
School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta are working
(21:38):
together to fill this urgent need through the Children's Healthcare
of Atlanta Pediatric Scholarship and Marriage and Family Therapy scholarship programs.
Children's just committed to funding pediatricians all across the state.
Here's Mark Wells, chief Diversity Officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
In Georgia, we have one hundred and fifty nine counties,
sixty of them, I guess don't have any pediatricians. LKA
(22:00):
and Mercer are getting together to change that. What are
you doing with that?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
So up the one hundred and fifty nine counties across
the state, one hundred and twenty of those are rural
and more than half of them don't have a pediatrician.
So we have an opportunity to really fill that gap,
and so as we have looked at how do we
make a bigger impact on the lives of kids, we've
partnered with Mercer to say, what would it look like
if we gave scholarships to med students who commit to
(22:26):
serving rural communities post their training. That's exactly what we've done,
and we're excited right now to have a over twenty
young people who are prepared to return to their communities
and service pediatricians once their training is over.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That's excellent. Twenty already, they're gonna assure.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Yeah, absolutely, they're twenty right now who've received scholarships. They're
all in different phases of their medical training, and they'll
all return to a rural community for four years post
their training.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
That is great. So they'll come right back here and
they'll just train in Georgia and they're big, big physicians
in Georgia.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Absolutely, they'll be pediatricians in Georgia. And that's what we
were really looking for, is what are sustainable solutions? Right,
So this is an a band aid. These are people
who are coming back to communities where there are no
pediatricians and they'll be serving kids for as long as
they choose to stay. And what we do know is
for most folks who stay four years in a rural community,
they spend a lifetime there. So we're excited about it.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
You see, you look at Children's Healthcare and you think
Children's chef Care of Atlanta, but it's Children's chef Care
of Georgia in some ways. And you look at this
big hospital we're in and you see surely people come
from everywhere in Georgia to this hospital.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Absolutely, I think, you know, that's one of the things
put folks on. Know, we serve kids from every single
county across the state, and so it's important for us
not only to make sure that they're getting great care
when they come into Atlanta, but they're getting great care
when they're at home. And so this is part of
why we're doing the work we're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, yeah, that is just riches because you know, there
are some really rural areas out there that still they're underserved,
and some don't have a doctor at all, I guess,
and so having a pediatrician that it really helps.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I mean absolutely, you imagine driving hours to get to
a pediatrician or never seeing a pediatrician at all. It
makes a huge impact on that family. And so the
idea that we can place pediatricians in those communities has
the potential to make a massive impact.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
That makes a huge difference for kids. You know, in
these rural counties, they don't have a pediatrician, but now
they'll have a pediatrician somebody who understands them and sees them,
and that'd be great. That is great.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
I mean, I think one of our scholars said it best.
He said, to have the opportunity to know that I'm
going to know my patient from the moment they're born
until they are adults can make a huge change in
their life. And so those young people are excited to
do that. Many of them themselves did not have that
growing up. So to be able to go back to
a community and offer that for them is huge and
(24:54):
we are so excited to be.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
A part of that. And what is that program called.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
So that program called it is called our Children's Rural
Scholars And so that will be a part of our
overall work with Mercer University that's looking at bringing quality
care close to home.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And where can I find out people find out more
about it?
Speaker 5 (25:12):
So you can find out more about that at choy
dot org as well as on Mercer's website, and we
share quite a bit on the program and on the
scholars in particular.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Find out more at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Choway dot org.
The questions or comments on today's program, you can email me,
John Clark at Georgeannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll
talk to you next week right here in your favorite
local radio station on Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark and the Georgia
News Network. Colorectal cancer is on the rise and it's
a second leading cause of cancer, morbidity and mortality in Georgia.
We're hoping to save lives by encouraging people to get screened.
Here today talk about that is Sam Askarion, MD, Vice
President of Clinical Development and Screening at Guardian Health, and
Elizabeth Zskolowski speaking about her husband Chris Zerkolowski, who passed
(00:35):
away from colon cancer. Well, first of all, what is
colo rectal cancer? Sam?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Colorectal cancer is basically, you know, cells in the colon
that get mutated and turn into tumors and so ultimately
leading to what is currently the second leading cause of
cancer deaths in the United States today. So it's something
that we are not one hundred percent sure but think
that it's.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Cause by diet, exercise, some of your.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Genetics, those types of things around your lifestyle that ultimately,
as you age, your risk for it goes up.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
They don't understand why it's become the second worst cancer.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's unfortunate, right, So a lot of things around our diet,
potentially the things that we ingest are, pollution in the air.
Those types of things are definitely causing more of it
and causing it to occur earlier on in life than
in the past. One of the things that's really important
that we do understand though, is catching it early can
actually beat it. So the odds of survival if you
(01:33):
catch colon cancer in its earliest stages are ninety one percent. Unfortunately, though,
if you don't catch it, it's as low as fourteen
percent in those later stages.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow, how do you catch it? How do you catch
it quickly?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The best news is there's multiple different screening tests for it,
So you have a conversation with your primary care doctor
or any doctor that you go see that really is, hey,
am I at risk for it?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Do I have any signs.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And symptom The most common test that's ordered is the
colonoscopy that a lot of people are familiar with. It's
a more invasive test. You do have to take some
time off for it. You have to prep for it.
There are at home stool tests, so these are you
can provide a sample of your stool, send it out
that can be processed and look for signs of colon
(02:22):
cancer and then there's a new test, the Shield test,
that was FDA approved last year. It came out last August,
and it's the first ever blood test that's approved by
the FDA and covered by Medicare that screens for colon
cancer with just a simple blood draw that you can
have done at your doctor's office or anywhere the blood
is drawn.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I just had my physical yesterday. It's funny you mentioned that,
and they did. They do that, They drew it and
the blood is drawn and that's there you go. It's
it's included with other things too, and so this is
so simple to do it at the doctor's office, you.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Know exactly, it's a much simpler test. You don't to
your point, you don't have to take any extra time off.
It's already a part of whatever your appointment was. I'm
really glad to hear you did it as part of
an annual exam.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
It'd be incorporated that way. And it's exactly that. It's screening.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So it's really just the check to say, Okay, I've
checked your blood sugars, you know, I've checked other things,
and I'm gonna check to see if there's any signs
of colon cancer in your blood.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
With this additional test that I can order now.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I had the colonosco be done about three three or
four months ago or something like that. It was clean,
But I'm glad I took the extra time off and
the time the time to do the necessary stuff you do.
You know that it may all make sense to me.
It does it to some people. They're too embarrassed or whatever.
I just get it. I would rather get it than
colon cancer, you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's the way that I always tell people, and the
way I always kind of explained it to my patients
when I was practicing, is it's no.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Different than wearing your seat belt. Right. We do it
because we know it's going to give us the highest
chance of survival if something goes wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Right, ninety nine percent of the time, hopefully nothing goes wrong,
but if it does, you war your seatbelt, you're much safer.
You've got a higher chance of survival. If you get
colon cancer screening, you have a much higher chance of
survival because it can be caught early and doctors now
have a chance to cure the disease versus just treating
it right.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Right, What are some of the treatment options available when
you get it.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's it's The other good news is it's it's advanced,
meaning that we've we've done a lot of scientific breakthroughs
to be able to treat it as best as we can.
With any type of cancer, you really kind of look
at the three options, right.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
There's cutting it so surgical options.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Burning it so radiation therapy, or kind of chemically kind
of treating it so it dies out, which is chemotherapy.
So there are all those options available to doctors. Even
at Garden, we have other tests that are downstream once
you've been diagnosed that actually think about how best the
tumor that's present could be treated. So you're not just
(05:00):
going at it with, hey, here are some options, but
instead you're saying, hey, here's the exact type of colon
cancer that we believe you have, and here are some
really really effective treatment options for the type of colon
cancer that you have. So the good news is there's
lots of precision medicine out there and a lot of
options for doctors to be able to choose the best
treatment that's right for the patient.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And to that, do you get to do you according
to what you've got? Do you choose what doctor whethers
urologist or a regular surgeon or oncologists do you choose
like that?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, so you know before you are diagnosed and it's
just screening. This really does fall into the kind of
the wheelhouse of the primary care doctor working in coordination
with a gastro intestinal specialist, right, so the GI docs
really do specialize in this area. Of course, the colon
is right there and the you know, in that type
of system, if it's diagnosed, absolutely you really want to
(05:55):
have an oncologist on board. So you have your medical
oncologists who understand kind of the different drug treatments, and
then of course you have your surgical oncologists that really
can't go out there and kind of look at this
from a surgery standpoint and really treat the disease and
try to impact your quality of life as little as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right now, Unfortunately, there are are it varies by race.
Black and African American people they get it more.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Why is that, we don't know yet. It's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Not only do we see a higher percentage of Black
and African American individuals get.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
The disease, it's actually more deadly.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So they have a lot of times up to forty
percent mortality, which is higher.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Than in other races and ethnicities. We do really think
that there is.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That link to diet, right, so you know, this is
it truly is what people are preaching. Having a healthy
high fiber much more organic diet is better, you know.
And also the unfortunate part of this too is in
the African American comunity, we've seen more screening, so they
actually are getting screened more, but the disease is taken
(07:05):
a higher toll.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So of course there could be a genetic component involved.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
A lot of research is being done, and again kind
of the overlying themes all of this is the best
way to combat it is getting screened and getting screened earlier.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
What about you know we talk about no, no, you
talk about it when we talk about it. You think
men get it all men, but women can get it
too though.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Right, absolutely, it's a little bit higher percentage in men
than women, but it's not that far off from being
evenly split. So men do get it a little bit
earlier in age two. So a lot of times doctors
will advocate that men are getting screened sooner. Guidelines today
really kind of recommend that anyone forty five and older
(07:51):
the screened for colorectal cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That's actually new about five years ago. That used to
be people fifty years and older.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
So we've really kind of dropped the guidelines as we're
starting to see this earlier.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We do see it a little bit more common in
men than women to your point.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But absolutely this is a disease that affects both genders
almost equally.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
That's probably should say a lot of lies dropping it earlier.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Right, absolutely, right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So the way that you know, I truly do think
about this is one hundred and fifty thousand Americans last
year we're diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, over fifty thousand
Americans died from the disease. Those fifty thousand, seventy five
percent of them were either not screened or late or delayed.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
In their screening. So this is one of those.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
We really truly believe a lot can be done if
you catch it early and we can reduce those numbers.
We want to see the diagnoses drop, but more importantly,
we want to see the number of deaths drop. Lung
cancer is still the deadliest cancer by number of deaths
per year, but colon cancer is right behind it at
number two.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Just get screened. That's all you gotta do. Get screen
when you go to that.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Absolutely, Yeah, have that conversation with your talktor. There's options
to your point. You know a lot of people people
are opting in and getting those colonoscopies, but those people
that are hesitant, there's other options. And really, truly less
than a year, we've seen so many people talk to
their doctors and have the Shield test ordered.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
So now you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Worry about some of those inconvenient or unpleasant options. You
can just have a blood draw, no different than the
blood draws that you normally get in your doctor's.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Offen right, Right, it's so simple to do. It's so simple.
You just get it done and you don't even know
it to do it with all the others.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It takes minutes, the blood's drawn, the results come back
within two weeks maximum.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
The physician and the patient have those results.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
If it's negative, you can go about your life, enjoy
it without having to worry about it for another three years.
So the test is recommended every three years. If it
is positive, then then you can go get the colonoscopy.
And the cool part about a kolonoscopy is not only
does it diagnose, but you can treat because.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You're using tools that are kind of there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You can buyop see the tumors, and sometimes you can
even remove the tumors in the procedure.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So that's that's one thing they do in the colonagamy then, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Right, it's very unique.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, So it's actually diagnosing and treating at times because
you just are able not only to visualize, but access
that area and then be able to kind of then
truly remove certain tumors or suspicious masses that you think
are tumors and then be able to kind of test
those and see if they were actually cancer.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Certain Now that's pretty easy.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, that's why a lot of people do get it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And again, sixty percent of Americans who are forty five
and above are being screened, right, that's great news. It's
the forty percent who are currently not getting screened that
are eligible too that we really want to give them
more options and be able to kind of put them
in the pool of people that are getting screened.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Is there a website you can look at look to
go find out more about this?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, absolutely so, if you're a physician, and you're curious
about this.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We see a lot of physicians.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Are starting to order this, or if you're a patient
or you've got a loved one and you're curious to
learn more about it. Everything is accessible at shield cancer
screen dot com. That's shield cancer screen dot com. A
lot of patient information pamphlets and you can kind of
sign up to learn more and have people reach out
to kind of tell you more about the test.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Great, well, thank you so much for this. And it's
so easy, so easy to get done, so easy.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Absolutely, yeah, No, it's a great time to go out
there make an appointment or use the existing point when
you have to have that conversation with your doctor.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
So when you get when you get one type, does
it grow pretty fast? This is cancer?
Speaker 4 (11:34):
You know, it depends on what stage you're at. I
do believe there's different types, Like there's colon cancer and
it's in my husband's case, he had a certain type
of mutation that the cancer cells just kept developing. It
was that you couldn't turn it off, so he ended
up getting in six places. I was messaging with a
(11:57):
friend of mine way early this morning. Her husband's going
through it too. But yes, if you catch it too late,
it spreads and your chances of survival draw stressically.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Is it? Is that the main reason it spreads or
the main reason does it people don't catch it soon enough?
Is that how you do it?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Yees?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And what does that involve?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Catch it?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
So there's different you mean how to catch it?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah? How do you catch it soon enough? Through through
a physical.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, no, you either catch it either going to get
like a colonoscopy is the standard way the gold star
to go out. There is colonoscopy forty five and they
change the age. But there's also shield test, which is
the new blood test that's come out, and that's also
(12:49):
another way that you can get catch the colon cancer early.
And then there's also other ways like color guard and other.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Ways as well.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Now, is that the blood test, the blood test during
connect catch it as well as the colonoscopy.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
So the colonosopy is the best way to find it
because they're actually you know, going in and physically looking
at your colon and other areas. But with the shield test,
it does it's a way for you when you're going
into the doctor anyways, then you're given blood, you can
give an extra tube and get your that can. I
(13:28):
didn't detect colon cancer through that way as well. Okay,
the blood test, so it's a blood a less invasive
way for people to get tested because a lot of
people with the colonoscopy, you have to prepare the day before,
you have to take that day off of work. So
there's a lot more involved with the colonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
But it is the best way to I do it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I just had that done about six months ago and
I was it was clean. It was great, was clean,
everything was great. I'm glad I went through. I went
to the extra steps to have it, you know, and
I feel good about that.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it is definitely the best
thing to do and you get the best sleep and
you're cleaned out.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Are your hare and you can go eat eat. So
did your husband have colonoscoby? Is that what he had
to do eventually?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Well? No, The way that he found his was it
was May of two thousand and twenty one. He was
having gurgling in the stomach and they thought it was
assid replex but when they gave a mess and it
wasn't going away, so they did a scan and that
(14:46):
they found a mass on this colon and spots on
those liver and so his doctor said, you need to
go see.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I guess you're all just a sap.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Unfortunately, that was right before Memorial Days of a lot
of the doct doors were gone, but we got it
scheduled and they did that and then they did a
biopsy and that's how we knew it was definitely stage
four colon cancer.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And did he passed away from that?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
He did, he did.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
I'm sorry to hear that, thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But as with him going through this, he went through
every chance, every thing you could do to get rid
of it.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Right, Oh, yes, yes, absolutely, because it was a big shot.
He didn't have a history of it, and he went
to the doctor for everything. I mean, he was at
the doctor the following December and they said he was
our man. So yes, he did. They just changed the
age of forty five, two weeks before we found out
(15:46):
he had it. And I'm glad that they've changed the
age because it's catching people are catching it a lot sooner. Yeah,
But unfortunately, by the time we found out, it already
spread to six places. Was he he was at that time?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
He was forty eight forty eight.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So he was right. He was right there at it.
So now it's they have lowered the age so people
can go in earlier and get it.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Mm hmm, right, because he died at fifty, so he
didn't survive long once we found it and there you know,
it's a sneaky cancer. Yeah, you know it's hard to
catch it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, it is that. It is hard to catch it.
They say it's really hard. Is that true?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is true. It is very much true.
I've had lots of other family members to it too,
and that's you know, the only way you can catch
it is doing a coronoscopy, a shield test, and there's
other forms too, But you have to be proactive, you do.
You have to do what you need to do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So what would you encourage people to do to to
make sure they don't have color rectoral cancer?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
To follow the guidelines that are out there to get
a colonoscopy at forty five. If you don't want to
do that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
They're shielled.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
The other option is too, if you know that it's
in your family history, start talking to your doctors sooner
than later, even before age forty five if you're at
the rest, so that you can partner with your doctor
and even have it sooner if you are eligible for
(17:31):
that right.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And usually you know, people I don't know that they
don't go to doctor. I go to doctor.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
I go.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
The least thing I go, I go. And so I'm
always as foreign to me when people have these things
sometimes because I go all the time, and I realize
a friends of mine that don't. And it's really worth going,
you know, Oh it is.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Because if you catch it early.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
If you catch colon cancer early, it's ninety one percent.
You have a five year survival rate if you catch
it early. But there's only one way to catch it
early or to you know, multiple ways that you have
to go get that test. If you see someone going
through colon cancer and the stuff that they have to
(18:19):
go through, then you will want to hear that and
see that you're going to go get it done because
you're not going to want to go to day and
you're not going to go and buy any of your
family to go through it either.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And now men and women can both get that, right.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yes, they sure can. Yes, men and women does not discriminate.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I know, because a lot of times they're thinking about
you know, it's just men. Men men get it, but
the women get it too, and they should can get
go get the colonoscay.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Right, Yes, men and women both can go get the colonoscopy.
It is recommended it at forty five purpose.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I guess you know men are embarrassed by getting the colonoscopy,
but it's not. It's not embarrassing at all. It's really not.
And uh, just go get it, that's the thing about it.
Just get it, and you know when you're done, and it.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Doesn't take long, Yes, it does not take long. No,
it's a you know when you have the shield test.
So if you don't want to go get actual klonoscopy
due to time or your job, you're going to feel
great afterwards. You're going to get a good night or
good sleep and feel cleaned.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
And you know, you don't even know that you're having
it done.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You just used to lay there and go to sleep
and in a few minutes later you wake up and
it's done.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. Well, I know you you want to encourage people
to go and get taken care of, but obviously you
can you can certainly tell them why they should do it.
Take taken care of and do you do you have
up occasions like, well you do. You're having a chance
to tell us today, but to tell people about it, like, hey,
my husband who passed away from this, don't do that.
(20:06):
Don't let that happen to your husband or you are
your spouch or whoever.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm big on early detection and spread. In his story,
it was very important to him, and I want to
keep it going and you know, spreading his story so
that people know this is not something that you get
because you're older or Janet. It could be anyone can
(20:33):
get this cancer and the senior they catch you catch it,
the better off here going to be in the higher
of your survivo.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Right had now, this is this is a tough question.
But had he found out earlier, would could he have survived? Yes,
he could have. I could have.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yes, if he would have gone at forty five, they
could have pulled out polyps and that was it.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, they just changed that age right before we found out.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Right right, I'm so sorry about him, But you can
you can let other people know about it, and you
are doing that and doing a great job of it.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
That's Elizabeth Sokolowski thinking about her husband Chris, who passed
away from colon cancer, and Sam Asgarian, MD, Vice President
of Clinical Development of Screening at Guardian Health. People and
physicians who are interested in learning more can reach out
at Shieldcancer screen dot com. Across the country, access to
healthcare and rural areas is in a crisis. Mercy University
School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta are working
(21:38):
together to fill this urgent need through the Children's Healthcare
of Atlanta Pediatric Scholarship and Marriage and Family Therapy scholarship programs.
Children's just committed to funding pediatricians all across the state.
Here's Mark Wells, chief Diversity Officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
In Georgia, we have one hundred and fifty nine counties,
sixty of them, I guess don't have any pediatricians. LKA
(22:00):
and Mercer are getting together to change that. What are
you doing with that?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
So up the one hundred and fifty nine counties across
the state, one hundred and twenty of those are rural
and more than half of them don't have a pediatrician.
So we have an opportunity to really fill that gap,
and so as we have looked at how do we
make a bigger impact on the lives of kids, we've
partnered with Mercer to say, what would it look like
if we gave scholarships to med students who commit to
(22:26):
serving rural communities post their training. That's exactly what we've done,
and we're excited right now to have a over twenty
young people who are prepared to return to their communities
and service pediatricians once their training is over.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That's excellent. Twenty already, they're gonna assure.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Yeah, absolutely, they're twenty right now who've received scholarships. They're
all in different phases of their medical training, and they'll
all return to a rural community for four years post
their training.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
That is great. So they'll come right back here and
they'll just train in Georgia and they're big, big physicians
in Georgia.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Absolutely, they'll be pediatricians in Georgia. And that's what we
were really looking for, is what are sustainable solutions? Right,
So this is an a band aid. These are people
who are coming back to communities where there are no
pediatricians and they'll be serving kids for as long as
they choose to stay. And what we do know is
for most folks who stay four years in a rural community,
they spend a lifetime there. So we're excited about it.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
You see, you look at Children's Healthcare and you think
Children's chef Care of Atlanta, but it's Children's chef Care
of Georgia in some ways. And you look at this
big hospital we're in and you see surely people come
from everywhere in Georgia to this hospital.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Absolutely, I think, you know, that's one of the things
put folks on. Know, we serve kids from every single
county across the state, and so it's important for us
not only to make sure that they're getting great care
when they come into Atlanta, but they're getting great care
when they're at home. And so this is part of
why we're doing the work we're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, yeah, that is just riches because you know, there
are some really rural areas out there that still they're underserved,
and some don't have a doctor at all, I guess,
and so having a pediatrician that it really helps.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I mean absolutely, you imagine driving hours to get to
a pediatrician or never seeing a pediatrician at all. It
makes a huge impact on that family. And so the
idea that we can place pediatricians in those communities has
the potential to make a massive impact.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
That makes a huge difference for kids. You know, in
these rural counties, they don't have a pediatrician, but now
they'll have a pediatrician somebody who understands them and sees them,
and that'd be great. That is great.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
I mean, I think one of our scholars said it best.
He said, to have the opportunity to know that I'm
going to know my patient from the moment they're born
until they are adults can make a huge change in
their life. And so those young people are excited to
do that. Many of them themselves did not have that
growing up. So to be able to go back to
a community and offer that for them is huge and
(24:54):
we are so excited to be.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
A part of that. And what is that program called.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
So that program called it is called our Children's Rural
Scholars And so that will be a part of our
overall work with Mercer University that's looking at bringing quality
care close to home.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And where can I find out people find out more
about it?
Speaker 5 (25:12):
So you can find out more about that at choy
dot org as well as on Mercer's website, and we
share quite a bit on the program and on the
scholars in particular.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Find out more at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Choway dot org.
The questions or comments on today's program, you can email me,
John Clark at Georgeannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll
talk to you next week right here in your favorite
local radio station on Georgia Focus
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