Our Bullet Dodgers

bullet dodgers are the people under 50 who have gotten a colonoscopy in the last 3 years and are willing to share their story to eliminate colonoscopy stigma.

 
 

Meet the proactive, brave people who have become Bullet Dodgers.

FEATURED STORY

 
 

“As a newly single mother of an infant, I was challenged to make the time to see a doctor while running the biggest project of my life at work and navigating a divorce. I sought out the help of my local gastroenterology practice to treat hemorrhoids, which I attributed to my pregnancy. The doctor essentially said, now that we've treated your hemorrhoids, we typically conduct some type of additional exam to ensure that the cause of bleeding was solely related to the hemorrhoids. If I were in my 20s, he'd recommend examining the lower third of the colon and if I were in my 40s, he'd recommend colonoscopy. Because I was in my mid-30s at the time, he said we could decide. For me, it was a no-brainer to get the colonoscopy.

They found 3 polyps in my right colon. On pathology, these were all found to be sessile serrated adenomas, known precursors to up to 20% of colorectal cancers. I knew at that point, I'd be having a repeat colonoscopy within the next 3 years. By the time I'm 50 — the age at which most screening colonoscopies begin — I will have had at least four colonoscopies. I'm all in.”

-Jennifer S.

The Official 2019 List

 
NAME AGE POLYPS
1 Sophia Ramos Auburn 24 3
2 Adam Greco 48 4
3 Jennifer Schreiber 39 3
4 Billy Reese 41 3
5 Caroline Sullivan 43 3
6 Anne Berry 48 3
 
 
“I’ve heard my mother-in-law complain about her colonoscopies for years and I felt sympathetic, but she’s part of the problem: spreading fear that colonoscopies are dreadful. They are very manageable, easily doable and are excellently preventative.”
— Lori E.
NAME AGE POLYPS
7 Sue Mitchell 48 3
8 Liz Tracy 33 2
9 Mark Turner 50 3
10 Andrea Conner 53 3
11 Jason Widen 45 2
12 Scott Hoaglund 48 2
13 Leslie McDow 48 2
14 Alicia Woerner 26 1
15 Dillon Shaw 30 1
16 Tabitha Cavanagh 33 1
17 Lauryn Paiva 39 1
18 Ryland Herring 38 1
19 Suzanne Wachman 38 1
20 Kellie Davis 38 1
21 Allison Hartsoe 40 1
22 Heidi Jurgens 40 1
23 Jen London 40 1
24 David Hassell 42 1
25 Amy Smith 43 1
26 Melissa Waddey 43 1
27 Cliff Bleszinski 44 1
 
“You fall asleep and wake up in another room when it’s all done… like magic.”
— Mark T.
 

Feeling inspired? Check out what YOU CAN DO to get involved TODAY.

“I had been having GI issues for the better part of a year and had an extremely low B12 level, so [my doctor] referred me to a GI. I was slated for a colonoscopy within a month to rule out Chron’s disease. The polyp they found was unexpected and it never would have been caught if my doctors weren’t trying to rule out other conditions. Now I’ll get routine colonoscopies every couple of years and this is an incredibly comforting notion to me. The idea that I may not have done this until I was 50 — as opposed to 28 — is horrifying.”
— Lauryn P.
NAME AGE POLYPS
28 Julie von Haefen 48 1
29 Eric Scanlon 36 6
30 Julia Perkins 43 6
31 Mark Dunkley 40 4
32 Angela Caraway 46 3
33 Sean Scott 27 0
34 Lauren Kirkland 31 0
35 Lee Kennedy 32 0
36 Heather Clarke 34 0
37 Whitney Rowe 36 0
38 Jaime Donato 37 0
39 Kelly Fitzgerald 37 0
40 Shannon Massey Lowry 37 0
41 Jedidiah Gant 38 0
42 Margaret Hall 39 0
43 Jennifer Probasco 40 0
44 Lori Edwards 40 0
45 Eliza Jacobs 41 0
46 Andrew Albert 44 0
47 Janie Cone 44 0
48 Jodi McDermott 46 0
49 Russ Swindell 46 0
50 Allison London Brown 48 0
51 Sarah Bell 36
52 Ashley Vertefeuille 27
53 Jenn S.
 
“I am forever grateful to my doctor for urging me to get a procedure I didn’t think was necessary, but turned out to be life saving.”
— Sophia A.
“I went yesterday for my colonoscopy and my doctor found a polyp. I have had zero symptoms. My doctor said how happy he was that I had taken the initiative and come in. I didn’t come in as a referral; I cold-called. At 40, this polyp is a little nothing. At 50, it would have been ‘a large something’ according to my doctor.”
— Jen L.