Woman’s death promotes awareness of colon cancer
It’s hard to think of anything good coming from the death of a woman just entering the prime of her life, but if the tragedy manages to stir us to take action to prevent others from suffering a similar fate, then at least she would not have died in vain.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
On Sunday, Shawn Morgan would have celebrated her thirty-ninth birthday, but on Wednesday night the Acting Labour Commissioner died five months after she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Carol Cabral, Shawn Morgan’s Sister
”I had a lot of hopes that she would get the best medical attention and not in my wildest imagination did I believed that it would have reached this stage this quick.”
It was only last July that Morgan started feeling discomfort that resulted in medical checks that four months later confirmed there was a tumour that may have been present for as long as ten years.
Carol Cabral
”She was at the peak of her career. I believe that she had so much to offer to this country. I was very proud of Shawn, I was very proud of everything that she did and we supported each other a lot.”
Morgan, who left for the United States last November to undergo chemotherapy, had become too weak to complete the treatment. It did not take long before Morgan’s vital organs started to fail.
Jacqueline Godwin
“In her final days she knew that she dying?”
Carol Cabral
“She knew, she knew it. And even when the doctor told my family, “We give up, there is nothing that we can do,” my mother said to me when the doctor left the room, she said, “they noh know who they di mess with. Shawn Morgan dead right now? They noh know me.” But right up until the very, very end she was there.”
Shawn Morgan’s death highlights a disturbing health concern among medical practitioners. Colon Cancer is an aggressive condition that if not detected early will lead to certain death. Because there is the misconception that the disease affects mostly men, women are not inclined to get an examination, that is, until it’s too late.
Dr. Irvin Gabourel, a gastroenterologist at Universal Health Services, says prevention is always better than cure. As shown in these pictures taken of patients, colon cancer starts from a small growth that over a period of time develops into a large mass. By then the disease has spread to other parts of the body. Gabourel says if you do not have a history of cancer in your family, then men and women should do their first colonoscopy at the age of fifty.
Dr. Irvin Gabourel, Gastroenterologist, U.H.S.
”And why at that age is, because that is when we will detect these little moles or warts if you will, will appear. And then by doing a colonoscopy, I can actually remove them with a little tweezer or a scissors and it’s better to remove a little mole than remove a big mass.”
“If you have any family history, then you do it at forty or at the age of the diagnosis that that family member was detected with cancer. So let’s say your family member was detected at the age thirty-seven, then I would recommend that you come and do your colonoscopy at age thirty-seven.”
”And if you eat bad, if you don’t eat a lot of fibre, if you do not drink a lot of water, if you smoke, and if you have all of these factors that contribute for that legion to grow then, it will grow an accelerated pace.”
It’s not certain just how many Belizean women have been diagnosed with colon cancer or are at risk, but according to Dr. Gabourel it is the third leading cause of death among women. Gabourel assures us that despite popular belief, a colonoscopy is a simple and painless procedure.
Dr. Irvin Gabourel
”We put you to sleep so you do not feel anything. After the procedure, most people want to know when I will do the procedure when in fact I have finished the procedure. Some people will complain about little gases; that’s because when we go up into the colon we have to insufflate it, we have to fill it with air so that we will be able to see the walls of the colon to detect a polyp or a cancer.”
Today as Shawn Morgan’s family gets ready to bury her, they hope her death will push women to get tested.
Carol Cabral
“I hope that we will understand that we need to do an annual check up. We need to know what is happening so we can detect this thing from a very early, early age.”
Shawn Morgan will be laid to rest in Los Angeles, California following services on February Third. In Belize, a memorial mass is being planned.
Today Acting Labour Commissioner Adelfino Vasquez, who took over the post when Shawn Morgan fell ill, described her as valiant and courageous woman who will surely be missed. Prior to her employment at the Labour Department, Morgan worked at the Central Bank of Belize for sixteen years. Meanwhile, Dr. Irvin Gabourel says there are also rare instances where children have been diagnosed with colon cancer, such as the case of a twelve year old girl he recently examined.
