UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — A nationally recognized musician is using his platform to advocate for colon cancer screenings as he battles his own diagnosis.
James Casey, a saxophone player and singer who is a member of the Trey Anastasio Band and has toured with The Roots, John Legend, Meghan Trainor and other famous entertainers, stopped Friday in the Lehigh Valley to speak on the topic during colorectal cancer awareness month.
- Saxophone player James Casey advocates for colon cancer awareness after his own diagnosis
- Screenings, such as colonoscopies, are the best way to catch colon cancer
- Doctors say it's also important to know whether you have a family history of colon cancer
He was the headliner at Olympus Corporation of the Americas, which held its Dress in Blue Day to mark colorectal cancer awareness month.
His message was that a successful career can’t stop a cancer diagnosis.
“It was kind of a gut punch, you know, it was just kind of what it was,” Casey, 40, recalled.
At 38, Casey was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
“I realized something was very wrong when I was playing a show at Red Rocks” amphitheater near Denver, Casey said.
“I was playing a show and my stomach felt, I felt bloated. I thought it was the altitude, but obviously it was not, and a couple of days later, I went to the hospital.”
Casey said he remembered going to the hospital three times before doctors realized what was going on. That last time he had to have emergency surgery.
"It was kind of a gut punch, you know, it was just kind of what it was."James Casey, Musician
Using his story to help others
Now, Casey uses his own story to advocate for routine screenings.
“This particular type of cancer that I have is 100% treatable and it's 100% preventable if you get tested early enough," he said.
"So I just want to make sure that nobody else has to go through this mess that I'm going through right now.”
Olympus Corp. President Julien Sauvagnargues said, “We believe that at Olympus, we do have a responsibility to raise awareness on this disease, and basically our employees here are the best advocates for that."
"We are a leading medical technology company in the field of endoscopy, and we provide tools and solutions to our doctors so they can detect and treat colorectal cancer."
The company made a donation to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance in the U.S. for each employee who posted a picture of himself or herself in a blue shirt.
Another speaker at Friday's event was Dr. Renee Williams, vice president and co-founder of the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists.
Williams also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
Both Williams and Sauvagnargues noted that Casey is a strong advocate for this type of cancer because it impacts Black men at a higher rate than any other population.
Williams said the reason has to do with health equity and access to care.
“We're learning a lot more about health equity, which is everyone has an equal chance to be healthy, meaning we have to deal with the barriers that come up with different people,” she said.
“We learn about the social determinants of health, where we live, eat, breathe, and sleep makes a huge difference in our health outcomes.”
'Screening helps'
A cancer of the large intestines, Colon cancer comes from what's called polyps which are growths in the colon.
Williams said screenings are the best tool they have to fight against a diagnosis.
“How screening helps, by colonoscopy, to remove those polyps," she said.
"It's like, imagine a tree and you take a lasso around the tree and kind of cut it off at the root so that tree never grows into a bigger tree. Essentially, that's how colon cancer develops.”
"Cancer sucks. Chemo sucks. You don't want to deal with it. So that's my advocacy."James Casey, Musician
It’s a message Casey is determined to get out there.
On stage at Olympus, he told his story, hoping to reach others.
"Cancer sucks. Chemo sucks," he said. "You don't want to deal with it. So that's my advocacy."
A colonoscopy is recommended every 10 years for people 45 and older; however, those with a family history should be screened sooner.
Casey recently wrote a song about his cancer journey called "New Bloom." It's due out March 14, and he is currently putting out his first solo album, “The Kaua’i Project.”
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