Family Urges Colon Cancer Screening

The following was written by McKenna Jones, Micaela's daughter: 

Micaela was a hard-working, bright-spirited, and incredible mother, daughter, sister, and wife. She contributed 30 years of her life to serving patients at Portneuf Medical Center in Nutrition Services. She was known for her laughter and light she brought to her co-workers, friends, and family. After years of having problems that she kept to herself, Micaela went in for her first colonoscopy at the age of 49. Not expecting to find anything, she went into the procedure brave and strong. She never wavered with any fear. After the procedure, she went back to living her life. About a week later, we received the worst news of our life: they had found a six inch tumor in her colon. Our mother and amazing wife to our dad was devastatingly diagnosed with terminal stage four colon cancer in October of 2019. We all remember sitting in the room as a family when she was diagnosed. We had never seen my mom this scared. As a family, we all knew how tough she was, and never took the word “terminal” seriously. We believed that she could get better. Soon after her diagnosis, she completed many rounds of chemo and had multiple surgeries to give her more time to spend with her precious family that she sacrificed so much for. We all supported the decisions she made to get better and encouraged her. We knew she was strong enough to beat this. Micaela was extremely tough and completed her first chemo treatment plan. She was in remission for about a year.

But the chemo didn’t work, and the cancer came back with a vengeance. The chemo treatments and cancer took and took from her. First taking her hair, and then it started taking more from her body each day, but it never took her spirits or her bright shining smile. She completed 64 rounds of chemo and multiple surgeries, where most people with her same diagnosis only get through 10 rounds of chemo. We can’t explain how much she suffered and sacrificed to give her family more time with her. Three years and two months later, she lost the battle. We can remember how much she blamed herself by constantly putting off her colonoscopy. She always said, “If I had gotten it sooner, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” As a family that has suffered so much loss, we urge you to look into preventative care. If you feel something is wrong with your body, get it checked out. There is so much you can do to prevent your health from becoming worse. It is a lesson our family had to learn the hard way, and we hope you can learn from it.

If you are age 45 or older, schedule your colonoscopy at https://www.portneuf.org/colonoscopy-request or call Portneuf Gastroenterology at 208-232-6616.