"The Simpsons" co-creator Sam Simon died on Sunday in his Los Angeles home after a long and public battle with colon cancer.
Colon or colorectal cancer, defined as cancer that starts in the large intestine or the rectum (the end of the colon) affects more than 103,000 Americans each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Colorectal cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., according to the CDC, but the number of new cases and deaths are both decreasing, due to better treatment and early detection. While more adults are being screened, one in three adults still isn't getting screened for colorectal cancer when they should be.
Adults over the age of 50 are most likely to develop colorectal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Family history of the disease; past endometrial, breast, ovarian, colon or rectal cancer; a history of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis; or a history of colon polyps can all increase a person's risk of developing the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Click through the slideshow below to see more celebs who faced the disease, stars who supported sick family members and other A-listers who have spoken out to raise awareness and support the cause.
She launched the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance to help educate people, opened the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and later co-founded Stand Up To Cancer.
Today he is involved in raising autism awareness and engages in various public speaking endeavors.
"Before I was diagnosed with colon cancer I was totally unaware of my own family history relating to the disease. With no family history on record, I was not eligible for prescreening by insurance and would have normally had to wait until the age of 50 for my first colon cancer screening. Had I waited my prognoses would have been much, much different," he has said.
"My good friend Carmen is living proof that colorectal cancer is treatable. As a first step, we want to encourage people to talk to their doctors about getting screened.," she told People.com.
In 2009, it was revealed that she had also undergone surgery to move a small tumor on her pancreas.
