The 10-year Pearland resident once prayed she would never get cancer, but “God had a different plan for me,” she says. One day while working at the University of Houston, Butler was sitting at her desk in horrendous pain throughout the lower right side. She had been ailing for almost eight months, under the impression from doctors that panic attacks were the cause.
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Grace Butler (seen above with the traveling Super Colon exhibit at the Galleria) used her own brush with colon cancer to seek to educate others on the number two cancer killer in America. | |
The pain became so severe she could barely drive herself to work. She admitted herself into the hospital, was given pain medicine and later told to return home.
At that moment, she says nothing short of a miracle occurred.
“I have never studied anatomy,” she recalled. “I’m lying in bed, looking at the doctor who came to my bedside, saying they didn’t find anything, and my reply is, ‘I think you need to look at my colon.’”
A colonoscopy (an endoscopic examination of the large colon) was performed the following week, revealing Butler was suffering from Stage 3 colon cancer. She would undergo chemotherapy from to May to December of 1999.
Upon recovery, Butler says she felt compelled to teach others about the disease she once knew so little about, and suffered so much for to conquer.
“People need to be aware that colon cancer is preventable. They need to know where there are screening measures that can detect disease if present at an early stage.”
In 2001, Butler started a cancer ministry at her church, and from there, her assignment expanded. She was invited to serve on a strategic planning committee for colon cancer where she became inspired to take action for those who cannot afford health insurance, founding non-profit organization, Hope Through Grace, Inc.
Starting in 2002, HTG offered education workshops, consultations and referrals in churches, community organizations, the Star of Hope Mission and University of Houston-Downtown.
While HTG serves residents of the Greater Houston area, Butler says she wants to develop a national program.
HTG has worked to generate enough funding to cover the cost of a screening, which can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000. Last year, 41 people were covered and all of those screened were asymptomatic. There are currently 21 people on a waiting list.
In addition, through HTG workshops, participants expressed their desire to better their lifestyle choices: 95 percent of women attending who had never had a mammogram were committed to having one, and several smokers indicated they would join a tobacco cessation program.
In recognition of National Colorectal Cancer Month, HTG will host Get Your BottomsUP: Prevent Colon Cancer” Walk-A-Thon this weekend.
The event is meant to raise awareness of colorectal cancer and raise funds for colonoscopy screenings.
Beginning at age 50, men and women have a colonoscopy procedure done every 10 years. African Americans are recommended to have their first screenings at 45.
Denise White, program manager for HTG, said even though she was “terrified” before her colonoscopy 10 years ago, she didn’t feel any pain.
“It’s completely painless,” White says. “If you have any family history, you need to get screened because it’s almost completely preventable.
“There’s so much I didn’t know [about colon cancer]. I’m ashamed. I considered myself medically savvy.”
“We’ve broadened our mission so that anyone who hasn’t had a baseline screening could be eligible,” Butler explains. “The American Cancer Society produced a study in 2005 – in Texas, only 35 percent of people with insurance got screened.”
These numbers are troublesome, and other ACS statistics show that colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer found in men and women in the United States. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths after lung cancer.
More than 147,000 new cases are diagnosed, and more than 57,000 people die from CRC each year.
A person’s best chance for surviving cancer is to detect it early, says Butler, as there is a 90 percent chance for a cure. There are no symptoms of colorectal cancer in its earliest stages. It begins as a polyp, which is a small, non-cancerous growth on the colon wall that can grow larger and become cancerous.
In order to better educate the public on what cancer, polyps and other ailments of the colon look like, HTG, the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, and the Galleria Chamber of Commerce sponsored a touring exhibit of the Super Colon, an inflatable, 20-foot long, eight-foot high replica of a human colon, in the Nordstrom wing of the Galleria on Friday and Saturday last week.
The replica is one of five Super Colons that will travel to 45 cities in March alone and hit a total of 70 cities in a year.
This free exhibit was an eye-catching one to passers-by, including Houston resident Tod Harding.
Harding was diagnosed with diverticulitis (digestive disease of the large intestine) last fall and admitted himself to the hospital where he had a colonoscopy. Everything checked out fine, he said, but doctors recently recommeneded a second screening.
“Out of eight CAT scans, one said I had possible colon cancer, so I’m waiting for the results of the latest scan.”
Sitting at the HTG registration table in the Galleria last weekend was Michael DeAgostine, HTG board member who works for the health care industry in gastroenterology medical devices.
DeAgostine said his company wanted to form an alliance from a patient advocacy standpoint.
“I had always been focused on thinking of the business aspect, but Grace [Butler] put a face and emotion on the disease,” he says. “She was a big inspiration to me. Her outlook on life is something we could all learn from.”
Butler’s optimism is indeed palpable to whoever she meets. The thought of helping others brings a smile to her face, as she admits that, “it took us a while to push this boulder up a mountain.”
For more information, call (713) 668-4673 or visit www.hopethroughgrace.org.
©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2008