Community members are encouraged to dress in blue, the color for colon cancer, on Friday, March 5.

Joan Lang, area Cancer Control Specialist for the Kentucky Cancer Program (KCP), said that colon cancer is the third most common type of cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and this Friday marks the second annual nationwide campaign to promote colon cancer awareness and screening.

“While colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the nation, we in Kentucky are near the top of the list,” said Lang.

The U.S. colon cancer death rate in 2006 was listed at 17.1. The highest state rate was shared by Louisiana and Mississippi at 20.0, followed by Alabama and Kentucky at 19.6.

Caldwell County’s mortality rate is higher still.

The Kentucky average for 2002-06 was listed at 21.22, Caldwell County was 23.76.