The recommended age for getting screened for a colonoscopy is becoming younger

The recommended age for getting screened for a colonoscopy is becoming younger

The recommended age to get a colonoscopy used to be 50.

Now..the american cancer society recommends you do this sooner.

News 10's bri shackelford joins us now to tell us of one young womans story... and why she was happy she got screened at an early age.

At 5 o'clock i told you about how getting a colonoscopy could save your life.

Now...you'll hear about one young woman's story and why she was thankful to have caught what she did at an early age.

[take pkg outcue: rapid weight loss duration:1:22] megan carter started having issues with her colon in her teenage years.

Growing up she dealt with those problems thinking it could be something else.

Later on she found out the problem..

It was much worse than she originally thought.

"and he found two polyps, one pre-cancerous" she was only 27 when they found the cancerous polyp.

The only reason carter decided it was time to get looked at by a doctor... was "because" of the problems her husband was dealing with at the time.

Carter's husband suffered from ulcerative colitis.

He had to get his colon removed.

Once her husband had recovered...carter wanted to find out what was going on with "her."

"after we got through all of this, a year later i talked to his gastroenterologist.

I said 'okay we fixed him, let's focus on me because i've been dealing with these issues since i was a young girl."

Because carter was able to catch the cancerous polyp early...she did "not" develop cancer.

But...with everything carter and her family have been through... she says this is the most important disease to be aware about.

"this is the silent killer because a) we don't get many symptoms. other than diarrhea and cramps i didn't have any symptoms."

The c-d-c says here are the early signs of colon cancer you should look out for.

Cramping, blood in your stool, and rapid weight loss.

Rapid weight loss.

Carter said the recent death of actor chadwick boseman was really upsetting to her.

She said she could've been fighting that same battle if she didn't get