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  By Leighann Sturgin Infusing IV fluids all day and TPN at night I have to pee…quite often. If it’s not my ostomy, it’s my bladder but I feel like I’m running to the bathroom 100 times a day. At night, I frequently dream I’m searching for a bathroom. Sometimes in my dreams I find a…

Guest Blog by Kenny Toye, Featured Survivor in 2017 Colondar After my last chemo treatment, the nurse disconnected me from the chemo device that was attached to me every 2 weeks for two days, I thought the world would celebrate with me like I won the Super Bowl, The NBA championship and The…

Forward by Leighann Sturgin Colon Club Blog Administrator and Colondar 2.0 Staff writer. Featured Survivor in May 2015 Colondar 2.0. My friends 13 yr old, athletic, daughter, Chloe, is 5'4 3/4" tall and weighs 98 lbs. My exact dimensions, although, my hips are wider (from carrying and…

Written by Emily Mitchell (left) daughter of 2007 Colondar survivor Anita Mitchell (right) As I thought about how to approach my 25-second graders about colon cancer awareness, all I could think about is “I don’t want to scare them” and “can they handle this”. I thought these two things for…

By Leighann Sturgin My Lynch Syndrome comes from my Dad’s side of the family. We have the MSH2 gene mutation. My dad has had several polyps removed during colonoscopies over the years and has had several spots of skin cancer. (Both squamous cell and basal cell are related to Lynch.) Two of 6…

By Leighann Sturgin I’d like to have One Day Off. One day that I didn’t have to think about the crapsack on my belly. One day I didn’t hear the bag crinkle or my stoma didn’t make weird, loud, embarrassing noises. One day I’m not worried about the crapsack leaking. One day I didn’t need to know…

By Leighann Sturgin Happy New Year! I’m so thankful to see 2016. The holidays were a little tough for me this year. On 11/25/15 (the day before Thanksgiving) I had stoma revision surgery. I lost another 12” of small bowel leaving me with a total of 120 cm of intestine. I had a very…

By Lauren Miller On a recent flight back to Chicago, I had the pleasure of sitting next an 18-year-old male college student. It was an early morning flight, and we boarded the plane in record time. Due to this, our pilot announced we would have an early arrival. The young man said allowed,…

By 2016 Colondar Model Lauren Miller   I recently found out my coworker is having preventive surgery for breast cancer. She is a 5-year breast cancer survivor and had the genetic testing done. It was confirmed that she has BRCA-1 gene. Because of…