NEWS

Photo note: To download a photo of the Colossal Colon, see the end of the release

Lineberger center welcomes Colossal Colon Tour to campus

By AMY PHILBECK
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

CHAPEL HILL -- The Colossal Colon - a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-tall replica of the human colon - will make the first stop of its nationwide 20-city tour on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus Feb. 19 through 22.Visitors will be able to crawl or look inside the model of the human colon, where they will see replicas of healthy colon tissue, colon disease, polyps and various stages of colon cancer. The Colossal Colon will be located on the area of campus near Franklin Street, between Graham Memorial Building, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, and Alumni Building.

Hours are 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. Feb. 19 and 9 a.m. through 7 p.m. Feb. 20 through 22.

The tour, sponsored by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation and made possible by Roche, will also feature nine hands-on, interactive activity stations, covering topics on colon and rectal anatomy, as well as colorectal cancer prevention, early detection and treatment.

"We are excited that the Colossal Colon will be displayed in Chapel Hill," said Dr. Bob Sandler, director of the UNC Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Colon cancer is a preventable disease. This event will help us spread that message to people all over North Carolina."

Tour visitors will be asked to sign the Check Your Insides Out Pledge to talk with their health-care professional about colorectal cancer. Tour organizers hope to collect as many signed pledges as the number of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2003.

The Colossal Colon is the creation of Molly McMaster, a 26-year-old colon cancer survivor, with help and support from the clinical and educational staff of the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Fall Hospital, Glens Falls, N.Y. The replica is dedicated to the memory of Amanda Sherwood Roberts,  McMaster's friend who died of colon cancer at age 27.For more information or to participate in the virtual online tour, visit http://cancer.med.unc.edu or call (919) 966-5905. 

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/visiting/colon020603.jpg

Lineberger contact: Dianne Shaw, (919) 966-5905 or dgs@med.unc.edu
National tour contact: Sonja Weisel-Jones, (703) 519-2104