Colon cancer survivor shares his story

HENDERSON, Tenn. – March is known as Colon Cancer Awareness month. One colon cancer survivor wants to share his story with the public and wants to provide the community with some helpful tips on what you need to do to prevent getting colon cancer.

James Koronka was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in March of 2017.

“The pain was there,” said Koronka. “I mean, on the 24th of July that year I had to have major surgery and take out the rest of my colon and basically was left with an ileostomy for life.”

After that, he says he would undergo chemotherapy treatments for the rest of his life.

“I went through five days a week of radiation then chemo pills at home by mouth. A combination of those two things were they didn’t show their effects until after the fact,” said Koronka.

As a cancer survivor, he wants to provide the community with some important information about getting checked.

“Go and get checked,” said Koronka. “Age doesn’t discriminate cancers because I have known people that as early as 25 that have gotten colon cancer. I know a couple of people that are only 25.”

Koronka says if you or a loved one is suffering from an illness, he wants to provide you with this powerful message.

“I think the key to surviving this is being positive. You can’t let anything negative get in your way. Just kind of got to go with the flow and just realize that you were handed something that nobody else can handle.”