25 years of making a difference, let’s continue to transform lives for 25 more. DONATE

Anita’s Story: How Dress in Blue Day Began

In 2006 I started Dress in Blue Day at my children’s k-8 school. I had been diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer at the age of 41. Since I was the third parent at that school to be diagnosed under the recommended screening age, I thought why not start there with my outreach. I had a family history of the disease and did not know, and one of my close friends had died of this disease at 37 seven years earlier. This filled me with a passion to educate and advocate about screening. I wanted to make sure everyone knew the symptoms and risk factors even if they were under the recommended screening age.

The kids who usually wore uniforms at school were allowed to wear blue that day if they brought a dollar which went to charity. We sent screening guidelines home in the school newsletters. I reached out to the local media and they came and covered the story. We also did Mayor proclamations.

In 2008 I helped start a non-profit called Washington Colon Cancer Stars with the help of our state colorectal cancer task force. In 2009 Colon Cancer Alliance approached me and asked if I wanted to launch Dress in Blue Day nationally, and so we did. It is now done all over North America. It is listed as one of the National Days of the Year in the USA. It just goes to show that grassroots advocacy is powerful, and you do not need to have a degree in public health to help educate and make meaningful change. This message 15 years later still needs to be shouted; data show the early age onset colorectal cancer continues to rise at an alarming rate.

Please Dress in Blue and tell your friends and family why.

Shane’s story

I was diagnosed in April 2022 with stage 3c rectal cancer at 34 with n [...]

READ MORE

Lisa’s story

If you’re here reading this, you probably already have your diagnosis. [...]

READ MORE

Rada’s Story

Awareness is the best medicine I remember many things from my battl [...]

READ MORE

Gaston’s Story

April 2023 My story goes back to the start of 2000 when I made a ra [...]

READ MORE

Hanna’s Story

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Hanna Lengkeek, a stage [...]

READ MORE

Eric’s Story

At 41 years old, I was relatively young, healthy, and enjoying time wi [...]

READ MORE

Coping with the impact of cancer on your mental health: Lisa Martin’s story

Lisa Martin is a stage II colorectal cancer survivor and a passionate advo [...]

READ MORE

Gordon Levine’s Story

Gordon was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 48. After num [...]

READ MORE

Sam Megarry’s Story

Sam was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and Lynch syndrome when she was 2 [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Jordan

To donate: https://ccc.akaraisin.com/ui/bashforhope “Hope is all yo [...]

READ MORE

BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED: LESSONS LEARNED FROM MY CANCER JOURNEY

In just one moment, your life can completely change. Last year, I h [...]

READ MORE

Becky Cassidy’s Story

“You have cancer.” To me, when it’s regarding my own health, those words s [...]

READ MORE

Claudia Pavao: early age onset colorectal cancer and Lynch syndrome survivor

Claudia was diagnosed with early age onset colorectal cancer and Lynch s [...]

READ MORE

Lisa Blobstein’s story

It has been 10 years since my husband Steve Lisiak lost his incredibly b [...]

READ MORE

Connie Pickett: Living with LARs

The whole cancer experience really challenged me - mentally, physically, [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Stephanie Budgell

Hi, I’m Stephanie Budgell, a colorectal cancer survivor. I was diag [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Bryna Dilman

My day started as it always did: I was woken up by my five year old da [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Haydn

Hi, my name is Haydn Bechthold and I’m a 22-year-old who is currently figh [...]

READ MORE

Gurvinder Garcha, Cancer Survivor

In the year 2000, my Mom’s world was turned upside down when she was diagn [...]

READ MORE

Caregiver Story: Bunnie Schwartz

When I was 35 years old my sister was 45. She was diagnosed with stage 4 c [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Pierre

Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Pierre, who was diagno [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Meagan

I was diagnosed at 29. I was 9 months pregnant with my daughter and my tod [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Stephen

My name is Stephen. Thank you for allowing me to tell you my story. Up [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Don McQuaig

The day will be etched in my memory forever. On February 28, 2006 afte [...]

READ MORE

Patient Story: Henry Klumak

In early December 2016, Klumak was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic colo [...]

READ MORE

Cancer Recurrence amid COVID-19: Robin’s Story

It was the day of the lockdown. My family doctor called. “The colorectal c [...]

READ MORE

Aneta’s Story

I am grateful. I am grateful for the storm and I am grateful for all the m [...]

READ MORE

My Cancer Story: Annette Reilly

My story begins when I was 30 years old. I had started directing theatre a [...]

READ MORE

A PASSION FOR CARE – by Robert Hamilton

The colonoscopy room seemed small when filled with bizarre equipment. My [...]

READ MORE

Gemma’s Story

My name is Gemma (Filipino-Canadian). I have colorectal cancer, stage 3B [...]

READ MORE

Kathy Torunski’s Story

I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending the Brice Tiamuh Blue R [...]

READ MORE

VANESSA’S STORY

It was the summer of 2009 and I was only 21 years old...My mother, who was [...]

READ MORE

Paul Smeltzer

When I was 49 years old, I conducted the FIT (fecal) test as instructed by [...]

READ MORE

Mary Devera

I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age – 36 years old and 8 [...]

READ MORE

A Wife’s Worst Fear Realized – Gilda’s Story

Hi, my name is Gilda. Our story starts out like many others who are diagno [...]

READ MORE

The Dark, Long and Winding Road…Dominic Loccisano’s Story

I would like to thank Colorectal Cancer Canada (CCC) for their ongoing hel [...]

READ MORE

Sponsors

Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo
Sponsor Logo