April 2018 Herbein Hero – The Colon Club
Herbein is pleased to announce that the recipient of the April 2018 Herbein Community Heroes Award is the Colon Club, an organization that connects young adults diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) so they never have to feel alone.
The primary goal of the Colon Club is to educate as many people as possible about the risk factors and symptoms of CRC and for people to get screened when it is appropriate for them. For reasons that are unclear, CRC is on the rise in adults under the age of 50. If caught early, CRC is curable, but unfortunately, the disease is often caught too late.
The Colon Club’s website is designed to be a resource for individuals faced with CRC and their families and friends. Colonclub.com features personal stories, blogs and resource links related to prevention, symptoms, treatments, genetics, financial issues and help for caregivers. It even features a shop selling logo items including hoodies, t-shirts, stickers and jewelry.
One of the co-founders of the Colon Club, Molly McMaster, was diagnosed with colon cancer on her 23rd birthday. Hoping to educate others as early as possible, Molly looks for interesting and out-of-the-box ways to get her message across. One of the Colon Club’s unusual strategies was the creation of a “Colossal Colon” – a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-tall, crawl-through replica of a human colon. Molly believes innovative ideas like this have the potential to start a dialogue about screening that can save lives.
The $500 Community Hero Award from Herbein + Company, Inc. will go to the Colon Club through the fundraising efforts of Jim Huber, a “Colon Cancer Warrior” from Southwestern PA who has been battling stage 4 colon cancer. Jim’s goal is to continue to raise funds and awareness of the disease so that others don’t have to go through what he and his family have been through. To keep up with Jim’s fundraising efforts, check out his Facebook page at Save Our Butts.
