Wow! I had colon cancer. Never in my wildest dreams, or nightmares, would I have thought I would have said those words. I was 49 years old, involved in my 2 daughter's lives, and active with my huge farm and garden. I considered myself healthy because I exercised regularly and I ate a healthy diet. One day one of my staff memebers summoned up enough courage to tell me that I looked like crap. I admit I am a workaholic and I was rationalizing as to why I felt so bad, but I kept on going. Dr. T. Stacy Wood, an ophthalmologist whom I've worked with the past 15 years, also noted that I did not look well and was persistent that I see a doctor. To this day I consider these 2 people my guardian angels.

So I went to the doctor and found out that I was extremely anemic, actually in the doctor's words it was life threatening anemia. I was so anemic that I was sent the next day for a blood transfusion. Now the search began to find out why I was so anemic. I was sent for a variety of tests and eventually a colonoscopy. A cancerous lesion was found in the upper area of my colon during my colonoscopy. More people die from colon cancer when it is locted in this region because there are usually no signs or symptoms. I was diagnosed with cancer on Monday, saw my surgeon on Wednesday, then had my surgery on Friday. I had a great group of doctors including Dr. Rajeev Jain and Dr. F. Clark Odom. With their efforts I was able to walk out of the hospital on my 50th birthday.

When my beautiful daughter, Tiffany Orshalick, announced she was honoring me with this foundation I was very excited. She told me that a lot of people asked why she was putting together a foundation if I did not die. That is precisely the point she has started this foundation. The American public is constantly reminded about breast cancer and yet you rarely hear about colon cancer. Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths among women and yet is so curable if found early. The colonoscopy is a painless procedure that could save your life!