Michele Battista can never forget she had colon cancer, Nor can she forget it was more than 14 years ago and now she continues to be free of it, thanks to appreciating and recognizing the importance of early screening for the disease and a superb medical program that makes her want to spread the word.
That’s why she conducts annual fundraisers through donation for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.
This year, Battista will help the Alliance by manning a table at Fresh Works at Bell Works in Holmdel. With the help of the Alliance, this cancer survivor is manning a table at Fresh Works at Bell Works in Holmdel Wednesday, March 11th, when the iconic water tower in the shape of a transistor will be lit blue for Colorectal Cancer Awareness.
“The Colorectal Cancer Alliance is fiercely determined to end colorectal cancer within our lifetime.,” Battista said. They advocate for prevention, magnify support, and accelerate research to stop this disease. Contributions help bring us closer to a world free from colorectal cancer” she said.
Battista has been office administrator for Colts Neck Realty for ten years, and is also active and an officer with the Holmdel Historical Society.
But at age 50 in 2012 she had a routine colonoscopy to check for a disease that had never been in her family and for which she had no symptoms. It was because of that routine test that she was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. Three years later, after surgery and the news she had a 50-50 chance of living another five years without a recurrence, she then underwent 12 rounds of chemo. That reduced her odds to 70/30 much better chances for a lady who loves life.
So now, 14 years later, she still wants to give back, still wants to alert others to the very important reason to have colonoscopy for early detection.
She hosts awareness events for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and gets proclamations from Colts Neck, Monmouth County and the State in support of attention to colon cancer. As a14-year Colorectal Cancer Survivor, she promotes I #WalkLoud about the importance of being screened and #CelebrateMoreBirthdays! She emails family and friends to get the word out about the importance of being screened and happily reports she has seen positive results from that activity. “I’ve had a few family and friends go for that routine colonoscopy who were grateful when a precancerous polyp was found,” she said.
She is excited to be working with the Bell Works team in Holmdel to light the iconic water tower blue for an evening of the awareness event at their Fresh Market March 11. She works with Nurse Bonnie Woodward and Dr Howard Hampel of Red Bank Gastroenterology in raising awareness by obtaining a Monmouth County proclamation and an awareness event in Red Bank. She has her own fundraising page at 2026 DC ScopeItOut and is close to her goal of thousands of dollars to promote colon cancer awareness. The page for the alliance is https://impact.ccalliance.org/fundraiser/6879472
For her own health, Battista continues to visit her general practitioner annually, Dr. Anthony DeNoia in Atlantic Highlands . The physician annually orders specific colon cancer blood marker test along with other lab work to keep a close watch and ensure her security.
It’s been a part of her life for the last 14 years. But it has made a major difference in it and her lifestyle as well. “The colonoscopy was the easy part compared to the surgery and 12 rounds of chemo.” She said. “There is no going back to the old you.”
But, she said, “It made me realize that if I didn’t know much about the importance of being screened that saved my life, there are many more that need to be aware of the importance of screening for colon cancer. Remember it is preventable with early screening! Maybe if the screening age was 45, which it is now, back when I had my 1st colonoscopy at 50, it might have just been a precancerous polyp as my doctor said.”
“My mantra during chemo was “I had cancer, it never had me!” Now I raise my voice about the importance of being screened at local events in NJ as I am a 14-year survivor. “
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