🚑 Dear Steemians 🚑

As the pandemic keeps influencing our lives also in 2022, I want to talk to you about a disease that is much easier avoidable than Covid 19. I want to talk to you about Colorectal Cancer.
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Alessandro and I were working on a film production last year that deals exactly with this topic and it stuck me that I was so deeply ill-informed about this illness. I thought that a diagnosis with CRC is a death sentence and that only older people are affected by it. But then I met Christin during the filming and her story made me realize that I had to read up on it more. So, let's start with the short film that we made. It gives you a good first impression of the disease and the technology that is used to track it. For clarity: Olympus was the commissioner of this short documentary.
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https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/connecting-the-dots/olympus

In 2020 alone, there were 1.9 million new colorectal cancer diagnoses across the globe. It's the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Thirty-year-old Christin’s survival story highlights the importance of reducing stigma around this condition, recognising early warning signs and facilitating patient access to the early detection tools that are becoming increasingly sophisticated and accurate.
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On this photo you see Thomas Rösch, Professor of Gastroenterology at Hamburg University Hospital, performing a colonoscopy – a decisive step in successful CRC prevention. This is the step many people are afraid of but actually it's not painful and not as unpleasant anymore as it used to be. You simply have to drink a liquid in order to clean your bowl and then the procedure is conducted under full anesthesia so you won't notice anything.
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„I got stuck in a nightmare“– Christin is diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) at the age of 28. Her mission today: Sharing her experiences in the fight against the disease with other people and raising awareness for CRC prevention. In addition to Christin's very personal story, the film also provides the professional perspective of a renowned gastroenterologist - Thomas Rösch, his knowledge and his visions.
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The Olympus film is a contribution to the short film series Connecting the Dots. The idea behind it: exploring the ubiquity of medical technology, raising awareness for the impact it has on improving healthcare systems and saving lives. On the way from diagnosis to cure, innovative technology meets today’s major challenges in healthcare and makes it more resilient. By highlighting the crucial role of endoscopy in the fight against CRC, Olympus underlines its Purpose of making people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling.
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So here is my call to action: Encourage the people you love - who are above 50 - to get checked for CRC with an endoscopy. Cells that can potentially developp into cancer cells can be spotted very early and removed with a minimally invasive technique. You don't even have to undergo real surgery. This can save you from having to go through chemotherapy! In many health care systems around the globe, this check is free of charge!
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So, don't be afraid! Get checked and enrouage your loved one to get a check up! It will save you from a horrible disease!
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Yours,
Elena & Ale