“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I might be frightened, but I’m not scared,” Rahn Ramey said last week, from his home near New Orleans.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ramey, an award-winning comedian and a St. Louis native has kept fans laughing over the years through appearances on cable television programs, club circuits and at the old Maurice’s Gold Coast and the Funny Bone here in the Lou. He stayed true to form during an interview on the afternoon before his surgery for colorectal cancer.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When you think of very unfunny topics – this one has to be near the top of the list.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They are about to remove my side colon, my rectum and my anus,” Ramey said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>He will have to use colostomy bags, but Ramey said he already knows who offers designer covers.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When you are talking rectums, colons, fissures, fistulas, abscesses; wounds where the sun doesn’t shine; and knots on your butt that won’t heal – it’s T.M.I. for the squeamish indeed, but Ramey wants to keep it real and save lives, particularly “the brothers” – African American men, who Ramey said refuse go to the hospital. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I am talking to so many men that I know, who are my peers, and people who I’ve lost to cancer,” Ramey said, as he played out this scenario when an “Imaginary Brother” tells him he is diagnosed at stage 4.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“When did you find out?” Ramey asks.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Two weeks ago,’ Imaginary Brother says.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>‘Wait a minute!’ Ramey responds.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“My elbow fell off,” adds Imaginary Brother.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>‘And you didn’t go check?’” Ramey asks. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For Ramey, his cancer diagnosis a few weeks ago follows 20 years of living through the pain, chronic bouts of diarrhea and debilitation of Crohn’s Disease, which is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder that can affect anywhere along the digestive tract from your mouth to your anus, but typically affects the small intestines and colon.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I was on the road and my stomach was jacked up. It was like, in ’88. And then I started losing weight,” Ramey recalled. “That line from your navel to your pubic hairs –I was having pains in there and blood in my stool – and either diarrhea or constipation.” “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ramey said he was a little chunky “back in the day” and admits he was not one of the most health-conscious human beings on the planet.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“When a brother started losing weight, and started getting some attention, I though I was looking cute, I didn’t think nothing was wrong,” Ramey said. “I would eat anything that I want; would do anything that I want.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>About six years ago and after a 14-year hiatus, Ramey started having bouts with Crohn’s again.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I was at home – I was feeling really good. I didn’t pay attention to the diet and I didn’t do the things I was supposed to do,” Ramey said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Two-thirds of his intestinal tract was removed in 1992. Ramey said no one knew that he “had to wear a bag to “do his business in” for three months at that time. In the last couple of years, Ramey has undergone 10 procedures because of bowel issues. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“From the Crohn’s disease, scar tissue forms and it would actually close up your butt and they’d have to go in and open up your butt – that’s as delicate as I can put it,” Ramey said. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>High fat diets; a family history of colorectal cancer or precancerous polyps; ulcerative colitis; or being age 50 and older are some of the risk factors for colorectal cancer. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; color: windowtext;”> Persons with Crohn’s Disease are at a higher risk for complications, including colon cancer. Although not the case for Ramey, the Mayo Clinic says about 90 percent of people with inflammatory bowel disease never develop cancer. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Doctors say most colorectal cancer is caused by polyps that turn cancerous over time. The CDC said of cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon and rectum) is the second leading cancer killer in the United States. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>However, it is considered highly curable when caught in early stages. Ramey said his was caught early. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They are doing this as a precursor, because of what’s cancerous around it so it won’t have the cancer grow,” Ramey said. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The American Cancer Society reports that African Americans have the highest colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates of all racial groups in the U.S.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It can be more aggressive in African Americans and the disease takes place earlier than in non-African Americans,” said Dr. Joel Riley, a gastroenterologist at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center in St. Louis.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Some groups, including the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy advise earlier screening for African Americans, but check with your provider to make sure that the services is covered in your health care plan. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Without higher risk factors, the general recommendation for colon cancer screening begins at age 50; with future intervals determined by the doctor and depending upon results. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They say you are supposed to get a colonoscopy every 10 years “font-size: 9.0pt;”>‽ “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Let me tell you something: a lot can happen in 10 years,” Ramey said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Screening options include a stool blood test, a flexible sigmoidoscopy – which examines only the lower part of the colon through the rectum or a colonoscopy – which exams the entire colon. Based on your personal health history, the doctor will decide which test is right for you.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>A colonoscopy is a same-day procedure performed while the patient is sedated. The worst part of the test is the preparation the day prior –drinking a whole lot of something as recommended by your doctor’s office to act as a laxative to clean your digestive tract. The prep is the roughest part – but it’s also crucial to a successful screening. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The most important thing is to follow the instructions to have the cleanest prep possible,” Riley said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Doctors use a special pliable scope to travel through the intestinal tract to look for abnormalities – like precancerous polyps, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis; or diverticulitis, which are weakened areas appearing as pouches from the outside, that look like holes inside the lining of the intestinal tract; inflammatory bowel disease and other colon abnormalities. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When doctors find polyps during a colonoscopy, they are removed and tested to see if they are cancerous. Polyps that are benign and left unchecked can turn into cancer over time.
“mso-spacerun: yes;”> checked more frequently – and how often varies individually and is determined by the doctor. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“A general screen is 10 years; a family history is five years; follow-up can be five years or less, depending on what was found,” Riley said. “And then you need to discuss with your doctor the need for follow-up after polyps are found.” “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Riley said it’s very important for patients to follows up as recommended for them by their physician rather than basing their approach to follow-up examinations on the actions of other people. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The other important point Riley stresses is for persons to know their own body; look at their stools; and pay attention to symptoms that there could be a problem in your colon. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Blood in the stools; anemia; a change in bowel habits; unexplained weight loss – these are the things you can talk to your doctor about,” Riley said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ramey is recuperating at his home for the next several weeks. He was in a lot of pain the day he came home after spending a week in the hospital, but he and his wife both are looking forward healthier days ahead.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It’s got challenges, but we are making it,” his wife, Nelita Ramey said. “”I know he is going through a lot just with recovery, but when I just think back at what he’s been going through the last year, year-and-a-half, or whatever – it’s just got to be a better quality of life.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>And from a man whose serious mission is to find humor where it exists, Ramey’s experience may be fodder for new material in his next comedy show. He said he is planning an appearance in St. Louis this fall at the Funnybone in Westport. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For more information about Crohn’s Disease, contact the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America at www.ccfa.org. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For more about colorectal cancer, visit
“mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”>http://tinyurl.com/colorectalcancerfacts.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Rahn said he can’t counsel but he can give you his testimony about Crohn’s Disease and colorectal cancer. Send your well wishes, questions and comments to rahn@rahnramey.com.
