CLEVELAND — Wednesday is National Doctor's Day. A day set aside to thank those who chose a career to help others. Many patients have reason to thank Dr. Stefan Holubar.
Dr. Stefan Holubar is a colorectal surgeon at Cleveland Clinic. His calling began in childhood after being diagnosed with chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
"I was sick all throughout my childhood in teen years and ever since I was a child, I always thought I'd be a scientist," Dr. Holubar said.
He started medical school and during his second year, he had a true life lesson on the patient perspective. Something that wasn't taught in class.
"I was getting a routine colonoscopy that had been missed actually and this is the colonoscopy that actually saved my life," Dr. Holubar said.
He had colon cancer. It forced him to put med school on hold so he could undergo surgery. He spent six weeks recovering and then returned to school in the midst of chemotherapy treatment. But his ordeal wasn't over.
"I had to have a second surgery to get rid of the remaining portion of the colon they left behind because the risk of getting another colorectal cancer down the road was too great," Dr. Holubar said.
His personal experience not only cleared his career path, but also, when appropriate, helps clear the fear and confusion for some of his patients
"I'm very open about sharing that I'm a colon cancer survivor," he said.
The typical reaction he gets is relief.
"Usually it's a huge sigh of relief, they're just shocked that the person sitting on the other side of the room from them, that's going to be operating on them, has gone through the same thing that they are about to go through," he added.
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and Dr. Holubar hopes his story will remind people to schedule their colonoscopy. The new age guideline is 45 for both men and women.
"A colonoscopy literally saved my life, if I had not had that colonoscopy, I probably would've developed stage four disease and then at that time would've been incurable," Dr. Holubar said.
He added, "it's one of the best screening tests in all of medicine that we have.because It can actually prevent you from getting cancer by removing pre-cancerous polyps."
Click here to learn more about colorectal cancer.
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