Joe M Bullock: Giving Back After Successful Treatment for Colon Cancer

A routine colonoscopy led to Joe’s diagnosis with advanced colon cancer and treatment.

In May 2018, when I was just 50 years old, I was diagnosed with stage 3b colorectal cancer after a routine colonoscopy.

I had symptoms for a few months, but, following the death of both my parents within half a year, I ignored them. After a period of grieving, I finally got around to getting a colonoscopy.

During the procedure my GI doctor at Duke Cancer Center found two polyps and a 10 cm tumor in my colon. I had surgery to remove the tumor, and 40 lymph nodes were removed. Of those 40, three tested positive for cancer. After surgery, I underwent treatment with two forms of chemotherapy: infusions of a platinum-based treatment called oxaliplatin plus capecitabine (Xeloda), taken in the form of pills. After eight cycles over the course of six months, I became known as NED (No Evidence of Disease).

For cancer survivors, having No Evidence of Disease is like a gift you don’t know how to unwrap, but you are grateful to have it.

Over the past couple of years, I began working to find my voice in the cancer community. I have been the right-hand man to Trevor Maxwell at Man Up to Cancer, been a “Card Angel” for Chemo Angels, became a cancer mentor for Imerman Angels, and became an ambassador for Fight Colorectal Cancer.

I live by the mantra, “Cancer might be done with me, but I’m not done with cancer.”

Whether you are a patient, survivor, caregiver, or loved one touched by cancer, your story can have an enormous impact. You can provide hope and inspiration to someone recently diagnosed with cancer or a patient undergoing therapy.