Colorectal Cancer: Question about hereditary colon cancer

Question about hereditary colon cancer?
My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer in his early 30s. No other people in my family have had this cancer, let alone any sort of cancer. I've heard that people who get colon cancer before 35 usually have some sort of rare and dangerous hereditary condition. I'm nearing 20 years old now, my dad claims he got his colon cancer from an extremely unhealthy diet and no exercise while working on US air bases in europe for a decade as well as environmental factors, he claims I have no worries of genetic conditions like FAP. Do you think he may be hiding something from me? Since he got colon cancer so early, what are my chances statistically speaking? He said he had "problems with his colon"
Cancer - 6 Answers
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1 :
My dad got colon cancer at 46 with no history of it in the family. I talk to the doctors about it aand they said that there is a chance that I could get it and it is a good idea to get check out 10 years from when he was diagnosis to make sure that I don't have it. So I think at age 25 you should get check out.
2 :
No one knows what causes cancer and your father is no exception. If your father had FAP his entire colon would have been removed and there is more than one type of hereditary colon cancer although rare. Anyone who has a first degree relative with colon cancer is twice as likely to get colon cancer too, which brings your risk up to 10%. Have a colonoscopy when you are 10 years younger than you dad was when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
3 :
Most cancers are not passed down from parent to child. However there are some cancers that do have a genetic component. *There are some cancers that are genetic (can be passed on from your parents). * There is screening and testing you can do to identified if you may be suscpetible to a genetic cancer. If you are concerned- you might want to find out about this? Here is some more straightforward info on hereditary types of cancer, their treatments and early detection: http://www.nowwhat.org.au/info/factsheets/hereditary-cancer I hope you find this helpful.
4 :
There are two inherited conditions which carry a substantially higher risk of colon cancer. In Familial Adenomatous Polyposis, affected family members develop thousands of small benign growths, called polyps, in the large intestine. Before the age of 40, one or more of these polyps will develop into a bowel cancer. In Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (also called Lynch Syndrome), patients develop cancer of the bowels and other organs, usually at an early stage. However, these conditions are very rare and only cause one in twenty cases of bowel cancer. Overall, the risk of bowel cancer doubles if you have a close relative (parent, bother or sister) with this cancer. You need to be watchful and need regular screening. http://cancerhealercenter.com/colon-cancer
5 :
Here's how to avoid being a cancer victim like your dad was. Do the opposite things that he did. In other words, make sure you have a healthy diet and do heaps of exercise, then you won't go down the same road as he did.
6 :
Of course, if there is any type of cancer in your family you need to be concerned, but not panicky. When I developed colon cancer, no one in my family had ever had it before as far as 5 generations back. My oncologist explained that most colon cancer is not hereditary, and the cause of most cases is unknown. Although there has been some link between a diet of fatty foods and colon cancer, there has been no definite cause and effect link. Colon cancer is rare in persons under 50 or so (I was 46 and considered very young), and it spreads slowly, so you might get a colonoscopy now to make sure there aren't any current problems, and maybe check again every 5 years, as recommended for low-risk people over 50 (I'm still only supposed to get one every 3 years, and I just got over stage 3).

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Question about hereditary colon cancer