View Ch. 28 Positively Tampa Bay interview with Dr. Marcet and his patient.

Dr. Jorge Marcet, left, with Jerry Baranowski, a colorectal cancer survivor.

Read related story on how USF is advancing colorectal cancer research…

Jerry Baranowski remembers the day he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer following a screening colonoscopy in January 2007.

“The gastroenterologist came in as I was coming out of the anesthesia and he didn’t sugar coat anything. He said ‘You have cancer and we want you in surgery next week,’” said Baranowski, 62, a retired chief financial officer for a Tampa-based civil and environmental engineering firm. “I was shocked and I don’t shock easily.”

Today, the Crystal Beach resident is a survivor of advanced colorectal cancer, which he attributes in large part to the efforts of Jorge Marcet, MD, professor and director of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at USF Health, and his team. In fact Baranowski’s so grateful, he has organized a charity golf tournament to benefit Dr. Marcet’s nationally-recognized research initiatives to develop minimally invasive approaches for treating colorectal cancers. Drawing on his experience as the owner of Paradise Sports, a business Baranowski started to arrange golf event packages, he has assembled more than 50 sponsors and an impressive prize package for the charity event.

The First Annual Classic at the Claw will be held Sunday March 15 at the USF Claw Golf Course, 13801 North 46th St in Tampa. Pre-tournament festivities begin at 11:30 a.m with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The first-place team will win a trip for four to the 2010 Phoenix Open valued at $5000.

The tournament was purposely scheduled to coincide with Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in March. “I hope to build this into a yearly event that will end up raising significant funding for Dr. Marcet’s research efforts,” Baranowski said. “Dr. Marcet’s main interest is to raise community awareness about the importance of colorectal cancer screening.”

Dr. Marcet, who doesn’t routinely play golf, says “if the field fills like I hope it does I’ll offer to drive a golf cart — if not, I’ll be out there whacking a ball!”

Colorectal cancer – the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States in men and women — is one of the most preventable cancers. “Most of these cancers begin as polyps, noncancerous growths on the inner wall colon or rectum that could be detected and removed during a screening colonoscopy,” Dr. Marcet said. “The message everyone needs to hear is that screening saves lives.”

A recent large Canadian study in the Annuals of Internal Medicine concluded that colonoscopies reduce the risk of dying from colorectal cancer by 60 to 70 percent. However, Dr. Marcet said, the survival rate is as great as 90 percent when the tumors are detected and removed in their earliest stages – something more likely to happen when patients pick an experienced colonoscopist and diligently follow the prescribed bowel cleansing regimen the day before screening.

While there has been an unprecedented reduction in the overall incidence and death rates from colorectal cancer in the last several years, death rates remain higher and declines have been slower among African-Americans. The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that even greater progress would be possible by increasing access to and use of colorectal screening tests. Colonoscopy, considered the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening, uses a lighted instrument to examine the rectum and complete colon. (Other screening tests include the fecal occult blood test, flexible sigmoidoscopy and barium enema.) Only half of people age 50 or older, for whom screening is recommended, have received the recommended tests, according to ACS.

“Unfortunately, even today many patients are diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the advanced stages when the disease is more difficult to treat,” Dr. Marcet said.

Baranowski ‘s own cancer, a large tumor in the left colon near the rectum, was diagnosed in an advanced stage. He had no family history of colorectal cancer, but had experienced some rectal bleeding when he underwent his first colonoscopy at age 50. He was diagnosed with and treated for hemorrhoids after that initial colonoscopy. The symptoms flared occasionally and by the time he was due for a physical examination at age 60 had gotten to the stage of concerning him. As part of his physical, his family doctor recommended another screening colonoscopy just to rule out colorectal cancer.

“The important lesson is that any bleeding from the rectum or blood in the stool is abnormal and needs to be quickly checked out,” Dr. Marcet said. “Many of the patients I’ve diagnosed with colorectal cancer delayed seeing a doctor because they thought it was just their hemorrhoids, and occasionally even a doctor may have said it’s their hemorrhoids.”

After the shock of receiving the cancer diagnosis wore off, Baranowski’s positive and competitive nature took over. He researched everything could about his type of colorectal cancer and its treatment and got the names of three surgeons most qualified for his type of case.

“Dr. Marcet was at the top of the list. He has a reputation for handling the most complicated procedures, and the information he provided my wife and I about what to expect was very detailed,” Baranowski said. “And this may sound funny, but one thing that stood out about Dr. Marcet was that when I shook hands with him, he had a good touch – confident but not too aggressive. I figured if I had to have surgery, I wanted a surgeon with a deft touch.”

Baranowski ‘s battle with cancer has been a two-year ordeal. Treated with radiation and chemotherapy before surgery to help shrink the tumor, he underwent several months of chemotherapy after the operation. His surgery was more complex procedure than anticipated, requiring removal of the rectum and a colostomy. Then, after he finally completed his colorectal cancer treatment, a follow-up scan detected a spot on his lung. The cancer had metastasized. Dr. Marcet referred Baranowski to a pulmonary specialist for surgery to remove the lung cancer. More chemotherapy followed.

“ I just now feel like I’m finally starting to get my energy back,” said Baranowski, who is working out with a personal trainer, playing golf and enjoying spending time with family and friends. He knows that the cancer may recur, but remains optimistic about living each day to the fullest.

“I feel fortunate, but I know my whole prognosis would have been better if we could have gotten to the cancer earlier,” Baranowski said. He hopes by sharing his experience, he can persuade others to overcome any qualms about scheduling that potentially life-saving colonoscopy.

“I have several friends in their early 50s and 60s who were putting off having a colonoscopy – but have since gone ahead and had one.”

For more information about the 1st Annual Classic at the Claw to benefit colorectal cancer research at USF Health, please call (727) 638-7793.

– Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
– Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications/Media Center