A brisk walk a few times a week could help keep colon cancer away, study suggests

(Melanie Glanz/ CBC News) — James Smith woke up from a colonoscopy to be told devastating news. At 59, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Doctors found a mass so large it completely blocked their view of the rest of his colon. Smith said he was shocked.

“It was hard, it was a hard diagnosis,” he said. “It was hard to believe it was actually happening.”

Smith underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy. When his doctors suggested he join a study to examine regular exercise and its possible role in preventing cancer recurrence, he said yes. He was concerned — through the course of his treatment he had lost about 26 kilograms, as well as muscle mass. But he joined, anyway.

“At the beginning it was difficult, I won’t deny. It was like, ‘How am I going to do all this?'”

Though he wasn’t included in the final study, he ended up finding the program helped him gain a sense of control over the cancer and his treatments. Smith is now cancer-free and his prognosis is good, he says. (…)