Ask Dr. Marie

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear about someone losing the battle to colon cancer. And each and every time I ask how this could happen, when today we have the ability to diagnose colon cancer years before it will spread — and often in a precancerous polyp stage.

Why weren’t they screened for colon cancer? Didn’t they know the statistics? Except for lung cancer, which is usually caused by smoking and diagnosed in late stages because there are no reliable early screening tests, colon cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and second only to breast cancer as a cause of cancer death in women.

Flu season is just around the corner. This is a good time for our seniors to size up their immunization history and see that they have all the protection they need as the fall and winter months approach. Older adults are at greater risk for many vaccine-preventable diseases than any other group. In 1999 approximately 90 percent of all influenza and pneumonia-related deaths occurred in individuals aged 65 and older. And equally worrisome, older Hispanic and African-American adults are much less likely to be vaccinated against the flu and pneumonia than others. So it is the perfect time for each on6 of us to see that our seniors get the protection they need.