Actor James Van Der Beek’s announcement that he has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 47 highlights the fact that it’s not just a disease that older people need to be concerned about.
Van Der Beek – star of TV’s “Dawson’s Creek” and the movie “Varsity Blues,” and a recent contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” – disclosed his diagnosis on Instagram November 3, saying: “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I’m in a good place and feeling strong.”
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), colorectal cancer – the term for both cancer of the colon (large intestine) and of the rectum (the end portion of the large intestine) – is the third most common type of cancer in the United States, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths.
→ A Hepatic Arterial Infusion Pump Helped to Keep Glen Miller’s Metastatic Colorectal Cancer at Bay
The overall U.S. death rate from colorectal cancer has been gradually declining in recent years, primarily among older people, as more people get screened. But the mortality rate from “early onset” colorectal cancer in people under age 50 has been increasing year by year.
To learn more about colorectal cancer, we turned to Christopher Lieu, MD, a University of Colorado Cancer Center leader who specializes in colorectal and other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Lieu, the cancer center’s associate director for clinical research and its co-director of GI medical oncology, is a professor in the University of Colorado Department of Medicine’s Division of Medical Oncology.
→ Lieu Part of Team Overseeing Multimillion Dollar Colorectal Cancer Initiative
Photo at top: Actor James Van Der Beek at GalaxyCon Austin in 2023. Photo by Super Festivals | Licensed under Creative Commons