ORLANDO, Fla. – Colon cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, but many people still aren't getting proper screenings, according to the Colon Cancer Alliance.
[WEB EXTRA: Amanda Evans Clark talks about Cocktails & Chemo ]
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month and the organization is asking people to wear blue today to show support.
Amanda Evans Clark knows firsthand how colon cancer can affect a family.
"Some days it just feels like we're just barely keeping our heads above water," she said.
Her husband, Joe Clark, was diagnosed with colon cancer at 28 years old. The diagnosis came two months before the couple's wedding in 2011.
Joe started chemo and after several rounds he was cancer-free in 2012.
The reprieve is when their daughter Mira was conceived. Mira is short for Miracle.
One year later the cancer was back. Last November, Joe died at 31, one month before his daughter's first birthday.
Evans Clark is stoic about their life.
"I feel like I received more love in my short marriage than I think people do their whole lives," the former news reporter said.
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, and the second deadliest according to the American Cancer Society.
It is also the most preventable, according to Dr. Sreeram Maddipatla, an oncologist with Orlando Health.
"In the past 50 years by screening colonoscopy, we have reduced colon cancer deaths," he said.
59 percent of Americans are having regular colonoscopy screenings, but more than 40 percent are not according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Maddipatla says he believes people don't know that a colonoscopy can save your life.
"If they knew that, I think there would be more people doing it," he said.
Dr. Maddipatla, who was Clark's oncologist, recommends patients have a colonoscopy screening at age 50.
However, if you have a family member who has had colon cancer you should start screening at 40.
Joe's father also died of cancer, so their daughter Mira will start even sooner.
"I'm just always going to talk to her about it," Evans Clark said.
Joe had Lynch Syndrome, a rare inherited disorder, which means Mira has a 50 percent chance of getting colon cancer.
Because of that, Evans Clark says Mira will start having a colonoscopy at 15.
"When she gets older, hopefully it will just be a part of her life and its not anything scary," she said
While she may have lost her husband too soon, he lives on through their daughter, in their home, and definitely in their hearts.
"I knew love, real love and not everyone gets that," she said
Evans Clark chronicled her family's journey in a blog called Cocktails & Chemo.
She has started a foundation by the same name.
The foundation will support young cancer caregivers, she said.
This Sunday, she will talk more about the foundation at a memorial for her husband at the Enzian theater.
The memorial is open to the public. Doors open at noon.