Kentucky Cancer Program - West

04/08/2026

Mobile Mammogram Screening

Call 502-852-2282 to schedule your appointment.

04/07/2026

All Breast Cancer Survivors are Invited

Join us on April 15th from 5-8 PM at Cartwheels!

04/07/2026

Mobile Mammogram Screening

We still have some appointments available.

Call 502-852-2282 to schedule.

04/06/2026

2026 Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade

ALL BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS ARE INVITED TO PREVIEW THE ORNAMENT

Wednesday, April 15 | 5-8 PM
Cartwheels | 3919 Chenoweth Square

04/06/2026

Strikeout Cancer Night

Tuesday, April 21 | Festivities start at 5:00 PM
Hopkins Co. Central High School | 6625 Hopkinsville Rd.

Join us to raise awareness! Celebrate the survivors and honor the taken. Education & goodies.

04/06/2026

Mobile Mammogram Screening Schedule
April-June 2026

Call 502-852-2282 to schedule an appointment.

04/03/2026

03/30/2026

As Colon Cancer Awareness Month comes to an end, colon cancer survivor Amber Joiner wants to remind everyone to not ignore your symptoms.

If you or someone you know is uninsured or has a high deductible, you may qualify for a free colon cancer screening. For more information, call 877-326-1134.

Amber Joiner, of Paducah, was only 37 when colon cancer stopped her in her tracks. Her mission now is to tell others that listening to their body and not ignoring symptoms could save their lives!

In February 2022, Amber’s first symptom was constipation. She quickly brushed that off as a common side effect of the prescribed weight loss drug she was taking. A few months later, she experienced blood in her stool.

“I put it in the back of my mind,” said Amber, a medical assistant for Baptist Health Medical Group Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baptist Health Paducah. “It got worse during the summer. I went to the doctor, but we still thought it was a side effect. It was masked by my obsession with my weight loss.”

Amber’s family and co-workers told her she didn’t look well, and she started losing hair and experienced fainting spells. By October, she asked her doctor to check her iron levels. Her hemoglobin level was a dangerously low 5.4, and she was sent to the ER. But first, always the conscientious worker, she went back to work to finish her duties.

“The ER doctor said, ‘I don’t want to scare you, but you could go into cardiac arrest right now,’” Amber said. She received two units of blood and a referral to a gastroenterologist two months later. In January 2023, she finally had a colonoscopy.

“In my mind, I told myself that I had colon cancer,” she said. “I was trying to prepare myself. But when the doctor came into the room and pulled up a stool and said she had found a mass, I couldn’t hear anything. My ears started ringing.”

The next week, Amber had surgery to remove the mass on her colon. During the operation, the surgeon had to make the decision to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in case the cancer had spread. Although she says now that was the right decision, it was another blow to Amber, who was single and dreamed of having children someday.

Amber was diagnosed with Stage 3C colon cancer and began receiving six months of chemotherapy in March 2023. “Chemotherapy is the worst thing ever. It’s the worse flu and nausea you’ve ever had,” she said. “Because I had a reaction to the chemo and because of steroids, I ended up gaining all my weight back. I was in the most depressive state. I was crying all the time and angry. Three weeks after I finished chemo, my uncle, who was like my dad, died in October 2023. My depression got worse.”

Amber persevered through the worst days and is now a colon cancer survivor! She is now 40 years old, and gets a cat scan every six months. “In 2025, I started feeling like myself again,” she said. “It makes me feel better to talk about it because of my age. Colon cancer deserves to be talked about more. I want to tell people to pay attention to your body and advocate for yourself. Don’t think because of your age, it can’t happen to you.”