Changing how we talk about colon cancer

Rates of colorectal cancer are rising, especially for people younger than 50. But it's hard to raise awareness for a cancer that a lot of us find hard to talk about.

In a recent essay for The Cut, writer Laurie Abraham described her experience of colon cancer, which included a lot of embarrassment. Talking about your bowel movements is not fun. Can you relate?

NPR's Brittany Luse is joined by Abraham and Dr. Kimmie Ng, co-director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to get into the cultural shame around how we talk about colon cancer and how that extends to a lack of funding and research.