Colon cancer diagnosis forces Monroe Township Fire’s Deputy Chief to change life

MONROE TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WTVO) — Deputy Chief Richard Wilson, of the Monroe Township Fire Department, faced many challenges in his 35 career, but a diagnosis of colon cancer in October 2024 was among his biggest.

“I ended up going in for a colonoscopy. They ended up finding out that there’s [a tumor] the size of an orange and it was almost occluding my bowel,” Wilson, now 38, recalled. “I ended up going and getting tons of testing done. Within three weeks I was under the knife. It was stage three cancer. It was into the bowel. And if it got out of my bowel into my liver, I would have not been here to talk to you.”

Doctors removed 20 inches of Wilson’s colon.

“I was back on the job within two months,” he said. “I could take another month off, but I had to get right in my head. And it’s all about that mentality of helping other people, not yourself. You don’t need to feel sorry about yourself. It’s a life-changing thing. It’s not what I expected. It’s what you have to deal with.”

Now, in between fighting fires, he is telling his story to remind others to get screened during Colon Cancer Awareness Month.

“The reason why it resonated this month with me is because I just had a colonoscopy. I got a spot that they’re going to look at again and they’re going to go back in and look at. It could be cancer. Nine times out of ten. It’s probably going to be cancer. But we catch catching it early, early intervention, get it out of there,” he said.

UW Health’s Dr. Nameer Mardini said early screening is key to survival, with colon cancer being one of the most common cancers in men.

“When patients get screened and we find a small lump, Stage One, Stage Two survival [goes] up to 80%, and the patient continued their life, normal,” he said. “However, when [it has] spread, the survival significantly goes down to less than 20% for five years. So it’s very important to catch it early.”

The recommended age to get a colonoscopy is 45 years old, but earlier if colon cancer runs in the family.