CHARLOTTE, N.C. — March 2021 is the official Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.

Colon and rectal cancer is the second leading cause of death among cancers affecting men and women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a declaration marking the month of awareness, the White House wrote, “Each year, colorectal cancer claims more than 50,000 American lives.”

There is hope though. Colon and rectal cancers have the chance to be far less deadly if caught early, according to the CDC and White House.

Colonoscopies and other screening tools can be valuable weapons in the fight against the disease.

But after COVID-19’s year-long impact on the United States’ health care system, a Charlotte oncologist says he’s seeing a rising number of late-stage colon and rectal cancers.

Blaming the pandemic, he’s worried people put off screenings and are actively delaying rescheduling them, which could cost lives.

On a sunny March day in Cherryville, Margaret Starling enjoys a drink of water and reflects on what could have gone wrong.

"My son’s getting married in October, and I could’ve missed it had I not been screened,” Starling says.

Starling is a hard-working woman, mother, and devout Christian. Those things define her, she says, not her cancer diagnosis.

"Don’t let cancer define you and don’t you ever allow someone else to define you by cancer. That’s a travesty,” Starling adds.

She credits her faith, her family, and close friends with getting her through her diagnosis and treatment, which she says might have been avoided if she had not ignored the signs something was wrong.

"I had a stage 4 cancer, and now I’m cancer free,” Starling says with a smile.

Now, she uses what happened to her as a warning for other people, especially women, to pay attention.

In 2017, Starling was diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery to remove several inches of her colon. After the surgery, Starling and her doctors thought she did not need any other treatment.

Five months later, the working mother of two started feeling sluggish and, as she put it, just tired.

Her cancer was back, this time metastasized in her liver, making it stage 4. Starling went back to surgery, this time to have a portion of her liver removed, and then went through months of chemotherapy.

Looking back a few years later, she says it all could have been avoided with a colonoscopy.

"You will not die from embarrassment, but colon cancer can kill you,” Starling warns.

She admits she had put it off, even knowing she had symptoms, but now wants other moms to think about what they could miss if they skip the procedure.

The CDC says the best and most common way to lower your risk of colorectal cancers is to begin regular screenings at age 50.

"It has been documented in multiple studies that it actually saves lives,” says Doctor Nasfat Shehadeh.

Shehadeh says he’s seen an increase in late stage colon and rectal cancers the last few months. He blames the worrying trend on delayed or canceled colonoscopies and other procedures during the worst of the pandemic.

"I think it’s one of the most highly preventable cancers to be honest with you, that could be cured as early possible,” Shehadeh says in his Charlotte office.

Shehadeh, who has years of experience fighting cancers, says hospitals were dealing with major impacts of COVID-19, which unintentionally led to other problems.

"Hospitals actually, they put a hold on these elective procedures cause they want to allocate the resources like anesthesia and all that to the patients that's coming to the hospital because of the surge. Even with the short interval, we noticed, especially rectal cancer, we have good numbers of patients, also colon cancer, that they come with advanced stages,” Shehadeh explains.

Using his 17 years of experience, Shehadeh says he and other oncologists are starting to recommend regular screenings earlier than age 50, recommending men and women begin at age 45.

“It is not the most fancy procedure that you will be looking forward to, you know,” Shehadeh says, addressing the hesitancy some have at receiving colonoscopies.

Both he and his patient, Starling, say women are making a mistake if they consider colon or rectal cancer a "man's disease."

Starling goes a step further, saying not to be scared and to use screenings, good doctors, family, and faith to keep cancer at bay.

"You don’t want chemotherapy and you don’t want surgery, I can tell you that,” Starling adds.

Instead, she and Shehadeh want you to have opportunities for more weddings, smiles, and laughs.

"Cancer’s real, your attitude is a choice,” Starling advises, recommending women and men speak with their doctors about scheduling a colonoscopy.

Shehadeh says if you are the recommended age, or have other risk factors like a family history of colorectal cancers, you should discuss scheduling a colonoscopy with your primary care doctor.

Shehadeh and the CDC recommend regular colonoscopies every 5 to 10 years, unless other risk factors are present.

Most colon cancers begin as polyps, which can be caught and removed early during routine colonoscopies, according to Shehadeh and the CDC.

There are other ways to screen for the cancers, including tests like Cologuard and some others, all of which should be discussed with a doctor, Shehadeh adds.