All butts, no ifs: Why this woman wants a frank discussion about colorectal cancer

After beating colorectal cancer, Kay Short of Corner Brook says people need to talk way more about their bums — because early detection of the disease could be the difference between life or death.

Short, known to many in Corner Brook as "Dean Catherine" from the local Anglican cathedral, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer four years ago. She had her tumor removed in March of that year, during colorectal cancer awareness month.

Although she's battled the disease herself, her son-in-law now suffers from terminal colon cancer. Short spoke with the CBC's Bernice Hillier about the importance of screening and early detection of the disease in saving lives.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you find out you had cancer?

I found out through a colonoscopy in September of 2019. My doctor who did the colonoscopy knew instantly. He sat on the corner of a desk. He started using words like tumour, radiation, chemo. He never once said cancer, but I knew of course that what he was referring to and knew that this was going to change my life from that day. 

You had an ileostomy. People may be more familiar with colostomy and, and your ileostomy has been reversed since then. Just talk a little bit about how that affected your day to day life. 

I knew in some ways that it was going to be a part of saving my life, which made it bearable. But I got my diagnosis on the 10th of September, and I had the ileostomy on the 3rd of October, so very quickly. And for the most part it was done so that treatment was more bearable, never knowing if it would be reversed. But once everything was done that I needed to have done and the tumor was removed and my body was back to where it needed to be, it was suggested that I be tested to have the ileostomy reversed. I felt very strongly for those who aren't given that option, that if it was reversible, I needed to follow through and have that last reminder in some ways of the battle that I had fought.

In hindsight, what would you have done differently? 

I would not have ignored the symptoms I had, and this is my whole purpose of wanting to speak, particularly throughout this month of March. We tend to always find a reason. I came up with every excuse in the book of why I had had diarrhea for a year, I was passing blood. I had moved to the city from a rural area, didn't have a family doctor and was struggling with that. But I had lost about 40 pounds, I think, in that year. And even that … we find ways of justifying everything that happens in our life. So if I would have anything to say to anyone about this, is do not ignore what you know in your heart to be true. 

Cancer has hit your family once again with your son-in-law now battling the disease. Tell us briefly how he was diagnosed and how he's doing now. 

My son-in-law, Jamie, lives in the Annapolis Valley, he's a military man. In May of 2022, he had abdominal pain, different completely from what I'd had. The military doctor did a ultrasound and discovered there was obviously a lot going on there. Unfortunately, when he was diagnosed, he was diagnosed fourth stage, inoperable. And it had already spread to his liver, his lungs. So he's had a very difficult battle for almost two years now. And in the beginning we could not even imagine that two years would even exist for him.

His symptoms were a bit different than mine. He's a younger man, which we always think, well, that's not me. He was 47. They do physical education every day in the military, and he was active and healthy for all intents and purposes, but they are fighting a very difficult battle as a family of four with small children.

In some ways. Is it almost harder to see your daughter and her family going through this?