CHULA VISTA (KGTV) — A 37-year-old Chula Vista man is using his second chance at life to urge others, especially Black men, to get screened for colon cancer.
Lewis is now three years cancer-free after a devastating diagnosis in 2022. If he had not been treated early, his outcome would have been entirely different.
"You wouldn't be sitting here talking to me," Lewis said.
His ordeal began when he noticed blood in his stool.
"I started having like stomach cramps and to the point I was going to the restroom about between 8 and 10 times a day," Lewis said.
After multiple urgent care visits, stool samples, and being told nothing was wrong, Lewis pushed for a colonoscopy. Doctors found a growth.
"that's when they found it and when I got kind of came out of my stupor they were like, I'm 98% sure that you have colon cancer," Lewis said.
"I kept repeating myself over and over again, no, I don't," Lewis said.
"I was numb for about 3 days and I was telling all my individual family members one by one, and then I had my breakdown on my 3rd day," Lewis said.
On May 16, his daughter's fifth birthday, Lewis underwent surgery to remove a foot of his colon. The following day, doctors confirmed it was Stage 2A cancer.
"my surgeon, he said, based upon the size and the location of that mass, it was growing inside of you for about 10 years," Lewis said.
For a decade, there were no signs of the disease. Now, during Colon Cancer Awareness Month, Lewis is speaking out.
"I really want black men to hear me, men of color, hear me. We suffer from this disease at a higher rate than anybody else. We have a 40% higher mortality rate," Lewis said.
Data shows Black men have the lowest colorectal cancer screening rates in the U.S. Lewis stays on top of his regular check-ups and pushes Black men to do the same.
"I am uh about to enter into a coaching program in which I could become certified so um I can become that person that they go to uh when they need some assistance," Lewis said.
"If you say you wanna live, live for those whom you love because they need you here," Lewis said.
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