Have you been tested for the cancer gene?

[Trek420]

My Dad had colon cancer at 53 and mom pre-cancerous polyps so I will be lining up for my colonoscopy at 40 instead of 50.

Ah, there's also a way to collect a sample and mail it in rather than do the colonoscopy. That's been sitting in an envelope waiting for me to do that. This may be TMI but you can mail in a sample to a lab rather than the colonoscopy. I don't know which is more effective but for sure something is better than nothing. This thread is a good reminder.

As for preventative care, lifestyle and diet changes I'd have to say my Dad is an example of "eat well, diet and exercise .... die anyway"

With a lifetime of hard work, my parents grew their own organic food even long after they stopped farming their land for a living. What they did not grow was mostly local and organic. We even had our own well water.

At nearly 88 my Mom still gardens avidly and walks to the farm market.

They are my inspiration that a healthy active lifestyle is not about living forever but enjoying life while you are above ground. I feel that it's quality of life vs quantity. Nobody lives forever but while I am alive I'd like to be able to be fit enough to open the peanut butter jar, do the things I like to do etc.