USA Map tracing Colon's progress.

Colossal Colon wriggles across nation

In earnest support of preventive medicine, community awareness, and creative publicity gimmicks, we at RoadsideAmerica.com are following the progress of the Colossal Colon as it meanders around the US in 2003.

Colossal Colon. The 40-ft. long crawl-thru, diseased intestine delivers a powerful message of early colon cancer detection to the congealed masses. Sponsored by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, the Colon will visit at least twenty cities over the next 10 months. Read the Tourism News story. It visited North Carolina in February, then Washington DC in March, and will head to Miami next.

Who's Jealous?

The Big Colon at the Mütter Museum, that's who. Of all the freakish curiosities at this Philadelphia medical museum, this impressive, turn-of-the-century distended colon is often neglected. It's hard to get a decent picture, museum director Gretchen Worden has noted. That's why it's not in her book of Mütter Museum photography.

It will be especially excruciating for the Big Colon when the highly mobile Colossal Colon rolls into Philadelphia in the fall. The Big Colon can't move at all.

We've heard from Smilers who planning trips to intercept the Colon, record a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity and learn how colorectal cancer can be prevented. We encourage you to send us a photo — we'll add the best to this page! Click on the map above to see when the Colon will be in your neighborhood.

North Carolina, Feb. 2003
Heather Thompson, Colon Tour PR, reports: "We had a great turnout at the event, despite the struggle with getting out of DC to get to Chapel Hill. The road trip that should've taken 4 hours took 10 after digging the trailer out of 2+ feet of snow, and then a tire blow-out, but it was well worth it. We had a great reception from North Carolinians. Next stop -- Freedom Plaza in DC..."

Robot Greg (lately trapped in South Korea on a non-RA assignment) dispatched wife (and Smiler) Kelly to the Colon while it was in Chapel Hill. She reported it was outside in a tent in the bitter cold, but that didn't deter Kelly, her sister Ginger, and Ginger's daughter Danielle from exploring.... Thanks, Kelly!

Danielle and Ginger. Danielle made a discovery around an oft neglected corner of the colon -- the dreaded Internal Hemorrhoid. Hard to discern scale from the photo -- likely as big as a child's head -- but it's a simple reminder to get an ergonomic chair and walk around a bit more....

Washington DC - March 2003

More than 2,700 people visited the Colon durings its stop at the nation's capital. A nationwide survey released in March by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation found that Americans are more aware of "healthy" vehicle maintenance than they are about maintaining good colorectal health. In the survey of 1,000 American adults over the age of 18, 83 percent of men and 64 percent of women knew they should change the oil their car every three months or 3,000 miles. However, when it came to the appropriate age to begin colorectal cancer screening, only 23 percent of men and 26 percent of women identified the correct age of 50 for an initial colorectal cancer screening.

Atlanta, GA - March 2003

According to the Colossal Colon Tour web site: "Despite rain and clouds on opening day, the start of war in Iraq and the nearby war protests, the Tour drew more than 1,700 visitors of all ages to the exhibit, situated at Robert W. Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta."

July 2006: The Colossal Colon continues to tour. The current schedule can be found here.