Justin Adler is a Colon Cancer Foundation (CCF) Champion who lives in New York City. He works for a small SaaS (Software as a Service) company leading their strategic finance team. In addition to being involved with CCF, Justin coaches a football team and is a member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York where he mentors a 9-year-old boy. He joined CCF in the beginning of 2022 as he hoped to be involved with something more personal.

CCF Champions started off as a young leadership council of the board—it has now evolved into a team of individuals with a personal or familial impact of colorectal cancer. The team meets on a monthly basis to discuss how best to support CCF’s mission of raising awareness around colorectal cancer from a board perspective, including leading and participating in the Foundation’s events.

One such event was  the annual Colon Cancer Challenge 5K Run/Walk during the Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in March. Each Champion led their own team and fundraised individually. As a team, they also create social media campaigns. Recently, they partnered with DuClaw Brewing on their “Give A Crap” campaign to fundraise and share each champion’s personal story around colorectal cancer.

Justin was 8 years old when his mother passed away from colon cancer. Seeing at a young age how the disease affected his mom and their family, he is very keen to spread the word on the importance of early detection. Because his mother was not screened prior to her diagnosis, his main goal is to push the message of colorectal cancer screening. Justin notices that individuals without a family history of colorectal cancer are not as motivated to schedule a colonoscopy. They sometimes push it off until they are required to receive one, which could potentially be deadly for some. He emphasizes building a level of comfort around the topic, citing the “Give A Crap” challenge as an example, where they spoke openly about the elephant in the room.

Justin and the rest of the CCF Champions are always on a lookout for opportunities to partner with and help further colorectal cancer research and treatment through fundraisers and also spreading awareness.

Kenadi Kaewmanaprasert is a Colon Cancer Prevention Intern with the Colon Cancer Foundation.

This story was published by Colon Cancer Foundation July 7, 2022. It is republished with permission.