'Boston Med': Surviving Colon Cancer

Aug. 5, 2010— -- After working as a firefighter for almost 30 years, Tom Alden, now retired, said he always suspected that a cancer diagnosis would be in his future.

"I've sucked in a lot of smoke over the years," Alden, 58, said. "There's a lot of stuff that's burning in a house that's harmful to you, so I wouldn't be surprised if I got cancer. I just wouldn't."

But nothing prepared him for when he found out that blowing off several routine colonoscopy exams proved to be a life-threatening move.

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"I've been told since I was 50 that I ought to get a colonoscopy and I had been holding off and delaying it, not for any particular reason, just hadn't gotten around to getting it," he said.

The 58-year-old from Fairhaven, Mass. was diagnosed last year with Stage III colon cancer, treatment for which would require surgery and chemotherapy. Alden said the diagnosis hit him like a ton of bricks.

His girlfriend, Judy Paradise McFee, a critical-care nurse, recommended he seek help at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Colon cancer is diagnosed through a colonoscopy, a procedure used to see inside the colon and rectum that can detect inflamed tissue, ulcers and abnormal growths. It is used to look for early signs of colorectal cancer and can help doctors diagnose a host of unexplained changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, bleeding from the anus and weight loss.

For Alden, it started with a severe stomach cramp.

"It was acute," he said. "If I touched it, it hurt like hell. It felt like my appendix was just going to explode."

"I think that night of pain was good. It woke me up. It told me, 'Hey, something's wrong in there. You better get it taken care of, whatever it is.'"