In April 2006, Roy Potts went to have his annual physical for SEC Football Officiating.

During the physical, the doctor found a trace of blood in his stool sample; the doctor didn’t think it was anything since his blood work was good. However, the doctor scheduled a colonoscopy for late April just to be sure.

The Gastroenterologist also thought it wasn’t anything serious based on the blood work. During the colonoscopy, they found a tumor. Within a month, Roy had surgery to remove the tumor and it was unfortunately cancerous. He was then scheduled for 6 months of chemo.

Following the chemo, he was scheduled for colonoscopies for the next 4 consecutive years beginning in 2007. This year, he had a follow-up colonoscopy and it was clean! Therefore, he is not scheduled for another 5-years. His Oncologist said that after 8-10 years, the chances of a reoccurrence would be less than 5%. Roy, and his family, thank football officiating for saving his life, but he cannot emphasize the importance of having a colon cancer screening. He was very lucky, but preventive testing is the key to defeating Colon Cancer!