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The year after actor Chadwick Boseman died from colorectal cancer, Mo Jenkins said he considered – but resisted – getting tested for the deadly disease.
Two weeks ago, however, he second watched the movie “Black Panther” – Boseman’s most famous role – and the next day he made a doctor’s appointment.
Jenkins’ doctor in Indianapolis had begged him to be tested. “I wanted to know if I was okay, but I didn’t want to take the test,” Jenkins, 48, said. He added that he saw the man who played a superhero in a movie dealing with colon cancer. ” A super hero. He looked great. He looked strong. Then . . . he was gone.”
“I don’t know why watching this movie hit me like that. But I made an appointment and did the screening.
Jenkins, a human resources manager, said he expired when his results came back, indicating no signs of cancer. “Totally relieved,” he said. “But the goal was to make sure I was okay before it was too late. Chadwick Boseman inspired me to do it.
When Boseman died at 43, black doctors had hoped it would be an inflection point for black people in general, black men in particular, to get screened for colon cancer, a treatable disease if found. on time.
Doctors who spoke to NBC News said more black men in their practices have been screened for colorectal cancer since Boseman’s death. Still, there is no quantifiable data to determine whether black men, overall, have increased screenings.
Yet the reality remains: Blacks are 20% more likely to get colon cancer than any other race, according to the American Cancer Society, and are 40% more likely to die from it. Additionally, they are more likely to have advanced colon cancer when diagnosed and have a shorter lifespan after being diagnosed.
Additionally, according to a report from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, factors contributing to the disproportionately high rate of colorectal cancer in blacks include lower screening rates, structural racism, social determinants of health, and difficulty with get treatment available, among others. .
Boseman’s death highlighted that public health agencies recommend colon cancer screening at age 45 instead of 50.
“Most people, when they think of colon cancer, think of someone who is old,” said Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, doctor of internal medicine in Alabama. “You don’t think of someone who was in their early forties like Chadwick, definitely not someone who looked as healthy as him. So I think that really helps people get along. realize how easy it is for this particular cancer to be active and harm your body without you realizing it.
“And I think that was probably the # 1 thing that came out of her death because a lot of patients started asking specific questions like, ‘What should I look for in symptoms? So awareness has definitely increased.
However, doctors said two dominant factors offset the influence of Boseman’s death: the coronavirus pandemic and the perceived invasive nature of colon cancer tests.
Stay-at-home warrants as Covid raged in 2020 closed in-person doctor’s appointments.
“I have seen a lot more people get tested since the Covid restrictions were lifted,” said Dr Timothy Quinn, a primary care physician in the Jackson, Mississippi area. “But the pandemic has changed a lot in the past year. Many people skipped their doctor’s appointments, naturally fearful of coming to the doctor’s office due to factors such as having people in the waiting room. So that slowed down the projections, which never helps. “
Even though the projections have increased among blacks, “we’re still on the lower end of the spectrum overall,” Dalton-Smith said. “Chadwick Boseman had this national profile. He was the Black Panther. It’s obviously raised public awareness, but often in our community we don’t want to be screened because we start to think about the whole invasive part of it when it’s not even necessary. “
Men worry about having a colonoscopy – a procedure in which a long flexible tube with a tiny video camera called a colonoscope is inserted into the rectum. The camera allows the doctor to see the inside of the entire colon.
Quinn said he recently had a patient he convinced to get tested, but only because he offered him a non-invasive option.
“His first concern was the colonoscopy,” he said. “He was trying to get out of there. I said, ‘Wait. You’re good. My hands are in my pockets. There is another way.
Quinn went on to explain that there is an FDA approved home colon cancer test kit that uses a stool sample from the patient. The doctor would order the kit sent to the patient’s home. The patient would provide the sample, package it, and send the kit to a laboratory for analysis.
“And he would receive the results in a matter of days,” Quinn said. “I told him it could change his life. And he accepted. It was a big deal. “
Nolan-Smith agreed. “The # 1 thing was that Chadwick Boseman was kind of a pressure point for some people to be aware of the seriousness of the disease,” she said. “The idea now is to use that awareness and let people know that the main deterrent to getting tested – it’s invasive – isn’t something to worry about. There are other things you can do that are minimally invasive, like Cologuard, which is still very effective in early prevention.
“We have come to a stage in medicine, where many cancers that once killed people can now be treated – if we catch them early enough,” she added. “The problem is, we still have double the death rate in the African American community. And a big part of that is due to not having undergone preventative testing. That’s what, a year after losing Chadwick Boseman, we have to get over it.
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