What is precancerous polyp? ‘7th Heaven’ star Beverley Mitchell urges young women to prioritize routine screenings

7th Heaven star Beverley Mitchell reveals her experiences of finding the biggest precancerous polyp in her colon. She encourages young women to put in consideration of regular colonoscopies to detect and prevent early.

What is precancerous polyp? 7th Heaven star Beverley Mitchell is going public about a cancer scare she experienced in her early 30s, revealing how a regular medical examination helped her identify an otherwise potentially dangerous condition at its early stages.

Beverley Mitchell health update

On Saturday, March 7, the 45-year-old actress posted an Instagram video in which she said that she recently had another colonoscopy and wanted to discuss the experience to encourage young women not to postpone the procedure. The child star said, "Yesterday, I got a colonoscopy, and I am sharing this because I think that there are a lot of people who are freaked out by it or embarrassed...I have no shame."

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What is precancerous polyp?

The 45-year-old recalled that the health crisis started when a healthcare professional identified some worrying indicators in her blood sample while she was in her early 30s. Beverley Mitchell says that the doctor told her that some of the markers were similar to the ones that are frequently linked with Colon Cancer. She feared the prospect and thus gave herself additional medical tests.

"I went to the gastro[enterologists], demanded to get a colonoscopy. At the time, I also had hemorrhoids so I had experienced blood in my stool," she explained. "The gastro agreed, so I had a colonoscopy. Come to find out, I had the biggest precancerous polyp he has ever seen in a young woman." According to Mayo Clinic, precancerous polyps are abnormal cells that can become cancerous over time if they aren't removed.

Importance of early screening

Beverley Mitchell, who described the test as an advocacy, further notes that another reason that compelled her to get a colonoscopy is the recent loss of a fellow actor James Van Der Beek, who died in February after a battle against stage III colorectal cancer, aged 48.

Walking us through the importance of early screenings, '7th Heaven' star stated, "Listen, if we get screened and if we go and get our colonoscopies and we pay attention, we can catch things early. I am happy to report that my colonoscopy came back perfectly clean, so now I'm on the five-year cycle [and] I'm no longer high-risk."

As of now, the 45-year-old colonoscopy stated that it was perfectly clean and she'll proceed to screenings every 5 years, until there are no signs of cancer. '7th Heaven' alum encouraged people to avoid procrastinating in their routine health screenings. She advises that screening helps people who have not taken the test to do so early enough before the problems are discovered later. She concluded, "Putting it off isn't going to make the situation any better but it's going to make it worse. This is my PSA that if you've been putting off your colonoscopy, go and get it now."

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