Colon cancer is showing up younger, faster, and in people who never saw it coming, and that reality changes what “normal” health planning looks like. We sit down with Mindy Conklin, founder and executive director of Hitting Cancer Below the Belt, a Virginia colorectal cancer prevention nonprofit that funds screening programs and pushes honest colon health education into communities that are too often overlooked.

Mindy walks us through her family’s story: her husband’s stage four colon cancer diagnosis at 41, the shock of having no known family history, and what caregiving and grief really do to your memory, your identity, and your work. From there, we dig into what she built and why: consistent colorectal cancer screening access through free clinics and federally qualified health centers, plus education that helps people stop treating this disease like a secret.

We also get practical. Mindy breaks down the symptoms people should not ignore (blood in stool, chronic constipation, irregular bowel habits, abdominal pain, thin stools, unexplained weight loss), and she shares a simple framework for family history: ASAP, meaning age, stage, and polyps. We talk about why colon cancer stigma keeps people quiet, how “poop education” can literally save lives, and why environmental health, toxins, microplastics, and the gut microbiome are becoming impossible to ignore as early-onset colorectal cancer rises.

To close, we cover screening options including colonoscopy and at-home stool-based tests like FIT and Cologuard, plus why some experts are cautious about blood-based tests. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with one person who needs a nudge, and leave a review so more people find it.

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