All-day music festival aims to raise awareness about colorectal cancer and the importance of early screenings.
This year, colorectal cancer will kill more than 50,000 people in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. But that’s not a statistic you’ll hear many people discussing; it’s just not a body part people like to talk about.
That’s the challenge for Kim Cohan Glick. As director of the Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation — named in honor of her sister, who died of colon cancer in 2004 at age 42 — Glick has made it her mission to bring the disease to public attention.
The foundation, also known as Susie’s Cause, will host a bluegrass/folk/classical festival on Sept. 9 at Oregon Ridge Park in Cockeysville, to raise funds and awareness about the disease.
The all-day event features three-time Grammy Award-winning fiddler Mark O’Connor and the O’Connor Band, as well as Sierra Hull, John Sebastian (formerly of the Lovin’ Spoonful), the Stray Birds, Tim and Savannah Finch with the Eastman String Band and more.
Jmore recently spoke about the foundation’s work with Glick, who lives in Baltimore with her husband, Robert, and attends Beth El Congregation.
Your mission?
We are spreading the word about colorectal cancer with screenings, education and public awareness. My sister, Susan, was initially misdiagnosed, and when she was finally diagnosed she was in Stage 4. She was a young woman with two young children. When she was diagnosed, people wouldn’t talk about colorectal cancer. She and my dad felt it was important to get the word out about early screenings.
When Susan was diagnosed, there was no one for you to speak to, there was nowhere to turn. We try to offer information and support.
Who should get screened?
If you have had a first-degree relative with colorectal cancer, you should be screened 10 years prior to the age at which they were diagnosed. And if you have any kind of symptoms, you should be screened right away. When it’s detected early, colorectal cancer is 90 percent curable. The awareness is changing a little bit, but it still has a long way to go. We get calls from younger and younger people, folks in their 20s and 30s
Health festivals?
We do free health festivals each year in 10 cities. We started in Baltimore as a way to spread the word and then we decided to take it to other cities. We provide entertainment and set up booths with a bunch of health information. We have doctors there who people can talk to if they have questions.
In each city, we partner with a hospital and local colorectal surgeons. We partner with the Department of Health and the YMCA. We give out coupons for free colonoscopies if people meet the criteria. Just this year, we heard from two people who did those screenings who had polyps and were on the way to colorectal cancer. So we know it makes a difference.
Other programs you put on?
On Oct. 29, there will be our 13th annual 5K run and family walk in Towson. And, of course, there is the concert in September. It’s going to be an all-day event with vendors and food for sale, and there will be a lot of great music.
Your late father was involved with the cause, too.
My father, David Rodman Cohan, in 2016 was awarded the David Jagelman Award for Advocacy in Colorectal Cancer from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. They gave him the award for his innovative outreach programs and also for the significant increases in colorectal cancer screenings we have seen across the country. It was huge. He called it “the Academy Awards of colorectal cancer.” He was so proud.
How do you get people to talk about this disease?
We try to focus on the fact that it is so preventable. There are not a lot of cancers that are so preventable. When people hear that, they appreciate the information and they are a little more open to hearing about it. Then once they start to listen, they become more willing to do the screening. I have had so many people get the colonoscopy after talking to me. And let me just say, it’s not so bad. It doesn’t take that long and it’s only once every 10 years.
It’s worth it.
Adam Stone is an Annapolis-based freelance writer.
For information, visit susiesbluegrassfest.com.
Top photo: The O’Connor Band (Photo by John David Pittman)
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