When NY1 anchor Roma Torre was diagnosed with colon cancer in the summer of 2014, she began recording a video diary of her ordeal in order to encourage others to get screened. This video contains all seven parts of the complete journal.
I found out that I had colon cancer after a routine screening over the summer, I was shocked because I had no family history, no symptoms, and I led a pretty healthy life. I was told I’d need surgery to remove a good portion of my large intestine; and there was no way to know if the cancer had spread to other parts of my body. At the same time I was gearing up to say goodbye to my daughter, heading off to college in Boston for her first year. It was a stressful month to say the least. For that reason I decided to keep my cancer diagnosis private for the next four weeks before the surgery. I needed to get on with my life, free of emotional distractions. No one knew at work except very few people. And one of them, Kristen Shaughnessy, suggested I keep a video blog to record the events surrounding my cancer ordeal. I shot about 20 video clips on my iPhone marking episodes in my life big and small at the time. And I’m putting many of them on this website in the hopes that sharing my experiences will serve to remind viewers to schedule a colonoscopy at age 50. If I had listened to my own advice instead of waiting a few years, I would have been spared the terror of coping with a potential life-ending illness.
-Roma Torre