Guelph man wants you to #SaveYourButt after a scary brush with colorectal cancer

John Dalusong · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 09, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 9

A antheral from Guelph, Ont. who had a colorectal crab scare past twelvemonth is trying to rise awareness and funds for the disease.  

Kyle Mackie said helium conscionable turned 50 past twelvemonth erstwhile helium was sent a announcement successful the mail that said helium was eligible for colorectal crab screening. 

Mackie decided to get checked and said it was "surprising" to him that his trial results came backmost abnormal. Doctors told him a colonoscopy was the adjacent measurement for diagnosis.

"It was summertime astatine the time. I was engaged riding my motorcycle and camping, and I didn't privation to woody with that close away," helium said. 

"I waited until the extremity of the summer, booked that ... I went and definite enough, they recovered thing that needed to beryllium addressed."

Doctors recovered a tiny tumour successful Mackie's colon. 

He underwent a hemicolectomy, a process wherever doctors region portion of a person's ample intestine. In Mackie's case, the doctors had to instrumentality retired fractional of his colon wherever the tumour was located truthful they could trial it properly.

Fundraising station 'taken down wrong 30 seconds'

Mackie is presently raising funds for Colorectal Care Canada, a non-profit enactment aiming to trim the incidence of colorectal crab successful Canada done acquisition and awareness, portion besides helping amended the prime of beingness of those diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 

He initially reached retired to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo to speech astir Facebook taking down his fundraising station astir instantly aft being posted.

"I started a small fundraising run done Canada helps. It had a representation of a butt, a truly bully crafted sculpture of someone's, you know, butt," Mackie said. 

The representation is the backside of a Roman-type statue with the words "Butt, Seriously" beside it. Mackie has a consciousness of humour astir the issue, with his slogan being: "Regular checks prevention butts," and "#SaveYourButt."

"I enactment that up connected my Facebook leafage … it got flagged arsenic nudity and instantly taken down wrong 30 seconds."

CBC News reached retired to Meta, Facebook's genitor company, via email for a remark connected the station being taken down. A spokesperson said the contented was yet reviewed and re-posted.

"That was a spot of a daze … I said, you know, this is simply a bully cause," Mackie said. "So yet they did enactment that backmost up and it's up connected my Facebook leafage now."

Colorectal Cancer: A increasing concern 

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal crab is besides called colon crab oregon rectal cancer.

According to Colorectal Cancer Canada's website, 69 Canadians are diagnosed with colorectal crab each day. Colorectal crab has go the 4th astir commonly diagnosed crab successful Canada successful 2024.

Sharlene Gill, a prof of medicine astatine the University of British Columbia and a gastrointestinal aesculapian oncologist with B.C. Cancer, told CBC News determination is an alarming summation successful the incidence of colon cancer, particularly among younger people.

"I've been treating colorectal crab for implicit 20 years, and nary uncertainty we are seeing patients being diagnosed astatine an earlier age," she said.

Elizabeth Holmes, Director of Health Policy astatine the Canadian Cancer Society, told CBC News successful an email that studies successful some Canada and globally person indicated that "early onset cancer," oregon crab diagnosed earlier the property of 50, whitethorn beryllium connected the rise.

Gill explained that probe connected colorectal crab is ongoing, but doctors and researchers person recovered that manner decisions, including fare and exercise, play a relation successful this trend.

A fare precocious successful processed foods and debased successful fibre and plants negatively affects people's microbiome, said Gill. 

"[The microbiome] is understood to person a relation successful controlling inflammation arsenic good arsenic immune surveillance, i.e. however our immune strategy works, which tin impact crab development," she said. 

Holmes said portion hazard factors specified "alcohol use, obesity, sedentary manner and unhealthy dietary habits tin lend to the summation successful cancers successful adolescents and young adults," they cannot afloat explicate the trend.

She said much probe is needed to recognize the rising cases of crab successful young people. 

Get tested

Despite having fractional of his colon removed, Mackie is thankful "they caught it earlier it turned nasty."

"I'm lucky," helium said. "I'm blessed to study that each of the tests came backmost antagonistic and unremarkable, truthful I'm recovering rather nicely and got an breathtaking summertime planned."

However, Gill expressed interest astir the fig of radical who aren't taking the accidental to beryllium screened.

"More than, probably, 40 per cent of radical who are eligible for screening aren't getting screened," Gill said. "Even successful their aboriginal 50s and 60s, radical aren't doing it, and we are successful a nationalist wellness strategy wherever it's astatine nary outgo to you to bash the test."

Colorectal Cancer Canada says colorectal crab is 90 per cent curable astatine aboriginal stages.

Holmes said current grounds suggests that radical betwixt the ages of 50 and 74, and are of mean hazard should person a stool trial each 2 years – even without signs and symptoms.

Through his experience, Mackie hopes much radical volition instrumentality screenings much seriously. 

"If you are scheduled, if you're of the demographic wherever you're implicit 50, it's clip to bash those tests that you get successful the mail."

LISTEN | This Guelph antheral explains wherefore you should get your butt checked: