EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Hearing the words 'you have cancer' is never easy, but for Lehigh Valley Health Oncologist Sheikh Asim Ali, it's all too familiar.
He's been on the receiving end of multiple cancer diagnoses within his own family.
"I've had a colonoscopy every two years since I was thirty because everybody in my family gets colon cancer around 38 or 40. So I am a big proponent of screening," said Ali.
Doctor Ali works at the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center for Lehigh Valley Health Network in East Stroudsburg.
He says King Charles the Third's recent cancer diagnosis serves as an important reminder that cancer touches everyone.
Pointing out that while you can't prevent cancer, you can reduce your risk of getting it by making healthy choices.
Sharing some of the symptoms you can look out for.
"Blood in the stool, blood in the Urine, you know, a cough that won't go away./Rapid weight loss, a change in your weight that you weren't trying to lose, but you start losing weight. Drenching night sweats," said Ali.
Buckingham Palace has not said what type of cancer King Charles was diagnosed with... only that it is a separate issue discovered during his recent treatment for an enlarged prostate.
Doctor Ali says older people are at a higher risk of getting cancer... and early detection is important.
"If you detect something tiny. you can have surgery, and you're done. you don't even have to worry about chemotherapy or radiation, so everything is driven, but the stage and the stage the earlier the stage, the greater the chances you're cured with a simple procedure, and you don't need any of the things people worry about," said Ali.
Doctor Ali says cancer isn't a death sentence, but it is important to get your yearly colonoscopy or mammogram, and if something feels off about your body, get it checked out.