Your butt pic could save a life! The #MarchYourButt campaign by the nonprofit Cheeky Charity wants everyone to bare their bottom on social media this March in observance of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month using the hashtag #cheekychallenge.

To participate, post a clothed, semi-exposed or bare photo of your butt or your pet or anything else that might grab viewers’ attention. Before you post, use Cheeky Charity’s custom photo editor to copy its “peach heart” logo and place it wherever you like on the photo. The site also offers prewritten captions to encourage participants to nominate others.

Founder David Russo, affectionately called “The Original Butt,” got the idea for the international movement in March 2021 when he posted a photo of his butt on social media—the image, snapped in Palm Springs, California, garnered more attention than any of his other posts. His father had recently had colorectal polyps removed to prevent the development of colon cancer, which got Russo to thinking: Could he use such cheeky photos to raise awareness of colorectal cancer and destigmatize our behinds?

Cheeky Charity was established in July 2021 and the “MarchYourButt” campaign started shortly after in support of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, observed each year in March. The nonprofit assists those who cannot afford to get screened for colorectal cancer and supports cutting-edge early detection research programs.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Young adults are increasingly being diagnosed with colon cancer at a late stage.

To learn more about colorectal and colon cancer, click #Colorectal Cancer or visit Cancer Health Basics on Colon Cancer. The Basics reads in part:

What is colon cancer?

Colon cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, develops when cells grow out of control in the colon or rectum, sections of the large intestine. The most common kind is adenocarcinoma of the colon, meaning it starts in the colon lining. Cancer may also arise elsewhere in the body and spread to the intestines, a process known as metastasis.

 

Who gets colon cancer?

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. New colon cancer cases and deaths among older adults have been decreasing overall in recent years, likely due to more screening, but the rates are increasing among people younger than 50.

 

Colon cancer affects women and men equally in the United States. African Americans have higher rates of colon cancer occurrence and death. Black men and women are about 25% more likely to develop colon cancer than whites. Latinos or Hispanics have the lowest rates of colon cancer occurrence and death.

 

What are the symptoms of colon cancer?

After food is mostly digested by other parts of the stomach and small intestines, the colon absorbs water and salt from and stores what’s left as waste in the rectum before it is excreted as feces.

 

Colon cancer can cause many symptoms, which include:

 

– Changes in bowel habits such as diarrhea or constipation

– Blood in the stool

– Feeling the need to have a bowel movement even after doing so

– Persistent abdominal pain or cramps

– Unexplained weight loss

– Iron deficiency (anemia).

 

Many people with colon cancer do not develop symptoms until its late stages, when it is harder to treat. This is why screening is important for prevention.

 

How is colon cancer treated?

Treatment for colon cancer depends on how advanced the cancer is when it is detected, where it is located, how many tumors there are, how large they are and whether they have spread to nearby lymph nodes and other parts of the body.

 

Surgery: Some small and localized tumors in the colon and rectum, or precancerous growths that could become cancerous, can be surgically removed.

 

Radiation: Radiation may be used to shrink tumors, which can help relieve pain and other symptoms. It is often used in conjunction with other forms of treatment.

 

Chemotherapy: Traditional chemotherapy works by killing fast-growing cells, including cancer cells. It can also destroy rapidly dividing healthy cells, such as those in the gut or hair follicles, leading to side effects including nausea and hair loss.

 

Targeted therapy: Targeted drugs work against cancers with specific characteristics. For example, they may interfere with signaling pathways that regulate cell growth. Targeted treatment is often better tolerated than chemotherapy, but cancer may develop resistance over time.

 

Immunotherapy: The newest type of treatment helps the immune system fight cancer. For example, some tumors can turn off immune responses against them, and drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors can restore T cells’ ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Current immunotherapy drugs work for only a subset of patients, and it is hard to predict who will benefit.