I never thought I'd have the opportunity to see the 'inside' of a colon ... not exactly something you hope to do in your life, unless you've always dreamed of being a gastroenterologist.
As I stepped into the sci-fi looking structure, I saw first hand what internal hemorrhoids look like, the equally horrific rectal cancer and the pendunculated polyps that startled me as I bumped into the protruding mushroom-looking structures.
The "entrance" or should I say "exit" to the colon:
As I continued through the dark tube and took note of the advanced colon cancer growing on one side, I realized I was traveling up, and not down, the colon. You'd think I would have figured that out earlier when I came across the internal hemorrhoids.
Towards the end of the journey I reached the "cecum" which I learned is the beginning of the large intestine. Outside, I saw a piece hanging from the colon which was the appendix. Hope that one never bursts. I braced myself for a potential mock "explosion" of sorts, but thankfully that never happened.
The Giant Colon Tour is an awareness campaign masterminded by the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, just one of the many initiatives being implemented as part of an overall PR campaign, making use of both social media and traditional communication tools and events, such as this one.
It certainly helped to provide me with a greater awareness and understanding of all things colon-related. Good job CCAC. For more info on this campaign, check out their website: http://www.colorectal-cancer.ca/en/the-giant-colon-tour/introduction/
I definitely think Canada could teach UK in making people more aware of diseases. Prevention is better than the cure. The more people that are aware of the symptoms then hopefully less people will die of this preventative disease.
ReplyDeleteEven though it is a bit gross, knowing what your insides look like is pretty important and this innovative "Giant Colon" communicates to people, who were probably very unaware of the complexities of the colon! Thanks for letting me see how Canada does a health campaign - top marks!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a fantastic technique to increase awareness of colon diseases. I think a lot of people have a mentality of 'out of sight out of mind' and by literally bringing the giant colon to you it has helped illustrate the problems facing many people.
Although the topic is rather embarrassing and not amusing for most sufferers, by making a huge blow up colon I think makes the whole campaign slightly amusing in a certain way that won't prevent people from going through the 'colon adventure'!
How lucky you are to have such fun and innovative educational PR campaigns brought right to you!
This was a very interesting post...and funny. The idea is very original, but I asked myself if it would work in UK, as from what I have been experiencing here in the past year, people are not that keen in sharing or discussing about personal things. From my point of view I think in UK would be a little too much. I will ask my UK classmates.
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