The Colon Cancer Alliance is dedicated to increasing awareness of colorectal cancer. This means raising awareness about signs and symptoms, about screening and early detection, and about options available to those already diagnosed with this disease.

In an effort to increase the public's awareness of the second leading cause of cancer death among men and women, the US Senate passed a resolution in 1999 making March National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Click here to read the 2003 White House Proclamation. The Colon Cancer Alliance is one of 50 national organizations coming together to help make March 2007 a success. Visit the official National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Partnership website

The CCA encourages our members and friends to bring their personal "Voices" to help bring increased awareness of this disease to their local communities.

In this section of the website, you will find downloadable March Awareness Kits. In these kits, you will find all you need to host a local event and/or get media coverage. We have also provided some materials you can display and distribute at your local events. Feel free to download, reproduce, and distribute any of the material in this section. CCA also has blue crc awareness ribbons and tee shirts available for sale. You may order them online here.

You'll also find a calendar of local and national events. Please fill out this form to have your event added to our calendar.

A letter from Survivor's Ethan Zohn who lost his father to colon cancer:

Loss, heartbreak, pain, death. These seemed very remote and distant to the fourteen-year-old boy. These were concepts that he had read about in books, seen in movies, that had happened to a friend of a friend. Suddenly these were no longer concepts. They had changed his life forever.

In the fourteen years since my father died of colorectal cancer I have learned much about life. I have learned to separate the important from the trivial. I have learned what to throw away and what to keep. I can appreciate the precious nature of time and the passion that any part of a minute can bring.

I would like to spend a few minutes with my father. In a few minutes, fortunes are made and lost, the ailing may be cured and the healthy become ill. For me, a few minutes is enough to reflect upon a lifetime.

A few minutes with my father is time for a story and a tuck into bed; it is playing along with a television game show; it is an early morning ride to school or a jog together on a Saturday. A quick hug is the smell of printing ink on my dad's suit, the touch of his raspy beard against my cheek, the softness of his belly and the strength of his arms enveloping me. It is my apology offered for something I did wrong and the glue needed to fix it. These remain as un-faded images of our bright brief time together.

I can still feel my dad standing on the sidelines of my soccer game and see his face when I make a great play. I can hear him shout words of encouragement when the ball is just out of my reach. In quiet moments, his cheering echoes throughout my mind. I am able to take risks and make commitments in the future, partly because of his unflagging belief in me.

When his body became frail, he was not too proud to ask me for help and allow me the chance to give back with a full heart. This time it was my arms that enveloped him and my hugs that desperately tried to fix what was wrong.

As I look back upon these precious moments, I have learned that to make happiness real for others is the greatest gift. It provides the foundation for celebration of life. My dad taught me this. I honor him by living each day fully and joyously, striving for hard to reach goals. I treasure this legacy.

If my dad knew about Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I probably would not be writing this. Celebrate today, celebrate this month, celebrate YOUR life…get screened for colorectal cancer.

Ethan Zohn has recently participated in Survivor All-Star and is the founder of Grassroots Soccer which he started with the money he won in Survivor Africa. The aim of Grassroot Soccer is to reduce the spread of HIV & AIDS by training well known soccer players to educate at-risk youth about the dangers of HIV infection and about the most effective ways to protect themselves. For more information, go to http://www.grassrootsoccer.org