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My name is Mattie Shaw.
I live in Long Beach, California,
and I've been a member of Kaiser Permanente's
medical group for more than 30 years.
I actually came in because I started an exercise program.
And you know, they say go see your physician first.
So I came in and she gave me
all these tests that I needed to take.
And one of the questions was, did you ever get
that colonoscopy I sent you for, and I said no.
She reminded me I needed to do that.
And then we went from there to a colonoscopy.
So I did explain to her how it's important for everyone
to have at least one colonoscopy in their life
to get a good look at the entire colon to see if
there's anything there that shouldn't be there.
And that's when I found out I had cancer and there
was another tumor that could be cancerous really soon.
So it was a blessing for me to find out.
I didn't want to take the test, but you know,
I did anyway and I'm glad I did.
Immediately following the surgery they came in and
told me they checked several lymph nodes and everything was
clear. They didn't detect anything anyplace else.
Recovery was pretty quick.
I actually got to go sooner than I thought.
I was up walking around sooner than I thought.
Then I went home and my family pampered me
and my mom took care of me.
And everything is fine. I feel wonderful right now.
And she's been telling other people in her family,
her friends, her church, the importance of making
sure they get their colonoscopies done.
I'd tell everybody now, you need to go get it done right away.
I even ask people now, you're my age,
did you go get your test done? If not, you need to go.
Wouldn't want you to be here, be my friend later.
So I stay on them about it.