Hereditary Colon Cancer Takes Guts

As I write this, I am aboard a plane returning home from Baltimore following a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration. Joined by a panel of experts in hereditary colon cancer, including Steve Erdman, MD (Pediatric gastroenterologist; The Ohio State University College of Medicine), Heather Hampel, MS, CGC (Genetic counselor; The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center), and Susan Peterson, PhD (Behavioral scientist; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Clinic). We discussed w...

Pity is usually available only in short supply in my family. We’re very much a “Life’s hard…Wear a helmet” group of people. That’s not to say that we don’t care for each other, because we definitely do…we just don’t see any point in sitting on the ground, looking at a skinned elbow, and lamenting the fact that we fell. My mom used to tell me that the only thing crying does is ‘make your eyes red and nose snotty.’ Some call it ‘tough love.’ Some call it ‘the school of hard knocks.” 

As a kid,...