Times Square campaign features White Oak cancer survivor

A White Oak woman diagnosed as a teen with stage II rectal cancer will be among 14 people featured in a new awareness campaign in New York City’s Times Square on Feb. 26.

Denelle Suranski, 37, is an awareness ambassador with the nonprofit Fight Colorectal Cancer. At 9 a.m. Wednesday, her photo will be included in a public service announcement appearing during the NASDAQ opening bell ceremony, live streamed at the NASDAQ Facebook Page.

“Colorectal cancer is the second leading death-causing cancer,” she says.

It also has one of the highest cure rates — 90% — if diagnosed at stage 1.

Suranski works to encourage people to pay attention to possible symptoms. She also is active with the nonprofit in trying to bring more attention to and treatment of the illness. She originally shared her story with the Tribune-Review in 2019.

She offered details of her cancer battle through a story in nonprofit The Colon Club’s national magazine “On the Rise,” urging people to pay attention to their health.

On March 6, she will be featured on Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Facebook page.

Her story is one of many launching the annual Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month campaign, a movement uniting more than 1 million survivors and their loved ones to get behind a cure and prevent future cases with screening.

“Each year Fight CRC selects a group of ambassadors from across the country to represent our community year-round, and especially during March, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. They bravely rally to raise awareness for this disease,” says Anjee Davis, president of Fight CRC, in a release. “We hope their stories resonate with people and provoke the over 30 million people age 45 and older who have not been screened to get screened. We want their stories to encourage fellow survivors and families, as well as remind people to talk to their doctor about their screening options.”

Family history

“I am a third-generation victim of colorectal cancer. My grandfather passed from colorectal cancer and my father and I were lucky enough to survive it,” she says.

Her grandfather died at 41, and her father, now 65, was diagnosed with colon cancer at 44, Suranski says.

As a teenager, she says, colon cancer was “not even in my mindset.” She became sick soon after, but was not correctly diagnosed, she says, until she was 19. Despite symptoms including constipation and bloody stools, she was told she had hemorrhoids.

As her symptoms worsened, she made a list for her doctor. “I had to advocate for myself,” she says.

A colonscopy revealed stage 2 colon cancer.

Suranski also has Lynch Syndrome, an inherited condition increasing the risk of several other cancers, including endometrial, stomach, small-intestine, liver, gallbladder, upper urinary tract, ovaries, brain and skin.

“Six years ago I had a full hysterectomy because it (ovarian cancer) is such a silent killer,” she says.

Advocating for others

Suranski agrees with the American Cancer Society’s recommendation to begin colon cancer screening at age 45, earlier than the age of 50 some health organizations suggest.

She also is working to get more funding to fight the illness, on the rise in young adults.

Suranski also wants to work to close a “medical loophole” that requires Medicare patients to pay a percentage of the doctor’s services and a hospital co-payment if a polyp or other tissue is found and removed during a colonoscopy.

“My place is to go and advocate for people that have colorectal cancer with Congress and change bills. That’s where my passion is really at right now,” she says.

While acknowledging older people may consider such issues private, Suranski encourages discussions of family health histories.

“It’s significant to the younger generation to know what their family medical history is,” she says.

She also suggests those without a family history but who notice changes in their bowel habits to notify their doctors.

“No matter how scared someone might be, make sure you advocate for yourself. Write down signs and symptoms and demand to be screened, and/or get a second opinion,” she says.

Suranski was active in getting Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania to declare March as Colorectal Awareness Month in 2019 and has again asked local businesses to light their buildings blue throughout the month.

“Hopefully our (Pittsburgh) skyline is just as blue as it is pink in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month),” she says.