Rock-And-Roll Wife Sharon Osbourne Shares Colon Cancer Experience

TV reality star Sharon Osbourne is living proof that early detection can help one defeat colon cancer. After a colonoscopy in 2002, the wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne discovered she had the beginnings of cancer in her descending rectum. "I didn't know anything about a colon before I was diagnosed,” she told USA Today in 2003. “I had no idea you could get cancer there. I was sort of in disbelief at first really because I kept thinking it was only for men – you know, that it was prostate cancer.”

Osbourne’s initial assumption is not uncommon. However, as she and fans of the reality show, The Osbournes, soon learned, colorectal cancer does not discriminate between genders. Fortunately, Osbourne’s cancer was detected early enough for treatment to be effective. In order to document her illness and recovery while spreading colon cancer awareness, Osbourne kept cameras rolling on the show after she was diagnosed. 

Now eight years after being diagnosed, a humbled Osbourne said the experience has made her stronger. "It makes you more grounded," she told Lifescript.com in June 2010. "We take ourselves so seriously, and we’re blessed to be doing what we do. But really, in the big picture, it’s a bit of a joke. It’s not what’s important in life."

To read a Q & A session with Osbourne regarding her alarming colon cancer experience, click here.