If you've been in downtown Dallas this week, you may have noticed the skyline has turned blue at night.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness month and this year, the skyline is blue to bring awareness to the preventable disease.
Ali Poonawala, founder and director of Dallas-based Colonoscopy Assist, was an engineer before he founded his company. Poonawala's grandmother died from colon cancer. He says she didn't get screened, until it was too late.
Poonawala had tried to search for an affordable colonoscopy screening for his grandmother but couldn't find one. She was uninsured and the screening would have cost $3,000-$12,000, which Poonawala said his grandmother could not afford. That's when he created Colonoscopy Assist.
Colonoscopy Assist has a network of doctors nationwide who do affordable colonoscopy screenings for uninsured patients. But that's the not the only way to get screened. Poonawala created a FIT kit at-home screening.
"You send a stool sample to our lab and get your results in about a week. It takes less than 5 minutes, it's not invasive, and it gives you peace of mind," Poonawala said. The FIT kit test is only $25.
The kit can be ordered online at colonoscopyassist.com. Poonawala stresses the importance of getting screened.
"Colon cancer can be prevented if you get screened in time," he said.
For more information, go here.
