Colorectal cancer survivor encourages others to talk to doctor following ‘Black Panther’ star’s death

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    Oklahoma City, OK (KOCO) — For Wade Cole, a colonoscopy and a nudge from God saved his life.

And now, he wants people to know Chadwick Boseman’s cancer diagnosis can happen to you – because it happened to him.

“I didn’t have any symptoms, didn’t have any problems, but I knew I just needed to go get one,” Cole said. “One day, I turned 50 and after a while just continued to have that nudging that I know was coming from God that said, ‘You need to get a colonoscopy.’”

That simple decision changed Wade’s life.

“My wife and I were sitting in the room. We were just talking and laughing with the nurses, and the doctor walks in and pulls the curtain back and says, ‘I’m sorry, Wade, but you have cancer,’” Cole said.

Cole had surgery to remove the tumor and eventually had a second surgery.

“After that, I had to wear a bag for a year and a half,” Cole said.

He then had a third surgery to remove almost all of his colon and underwent six months of chemotherapy.

“I have been cancer-free for three and a half years,” Cole said.

When Wade heard the news about Chadwick Boseman, he said, “It just made me sick because I heard that, and I’ve heard that now several times because I’ve had several other friends that I’ve got to know really well because they had colon cancer and passed away.”

“Unfortunately, it took his death to just get everybody to say, ‘I don’t know anything about this. What should I be doing?’” Wade said.

The American Cancer Society has seen a drastic increase in searches about colorectal cancer after the news of Boseman’s death.

American Cancer Society officials said they usually get about 1,000 searches related to this type of cancer in any two-day period. After the “Black Panther” and “42” star’s death, searches increased to about 80,000 in that same time frame.

Cole encourages people to talk to their doctor as soon as possible.

“Had I not gone in and had the colonoscopy, we found out, I would not be here today,” Cole said. “Sure enough, it was me. Well, if it’s me, then it’s you. It’s anybody.”

The American Cancer Society reminds people to talk with their doctor about any symptoms and any appropriate screenings.

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