March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. One woman, who battled stage 3 colorectal cancer is now urging more people to get checked before it's too late. "I think a colonoscopy for me saves lives. It saved my life," 53-year-old Carol Knickerbocker said. She's a living testimony after overcoming stage 3 colorectal cancer.She said if it wasn't for her husband, she might not be here today."A year ago, my husband decided to have a colonoscopy and he was all great and fine. He was like you're over 50 you should have a colonoscopy," Knickerbocker said. Get the latest news stories of interest by clicking hereWatch: NOWCAST streaming newscastsCarol said she learned of her diagnosis while she was in recovery during that colonoscopy in January 2023. "I was still half asleep. And I just heard the doctor come in and say, well, you know, it's not good because you have cancer," she said. She ended up opting to have what's called immunotherapy and then her colon was removed entirely."It was a new treatment for certain patients and there were not really any success stories yet. I had Lynch syndrome, that it was like, you know, an 80% chance that my cancer could come back. So I opted to go ahead and remove my colon," Knickerbocker explained. Dr. David Hiller is one of the doctors helping Carol throughout her journey. "What we've seen over the last several years is an increase in colon cancer and pre-cancerous polyps in younger people. We used to always say colonoscopy starting at 50 and then go from there and guidelines a few years ago changed to 45 for everybody. And that can even be sooner if you have family history," Dr. Hiller a Colon and Rectal Surgeon at Novant Health said. He said most people can be treated if they just look out for the symptoms."If you see bleeding change in your bowel function, in pain, that you can't explain otherwise. Get checked out," Dr. Hiller said. Carol said she's now cancer-free, but still has to go through full body scan treatments throughout the year. She plans on seeing Dr. Hiller again soon and says she's grateful to him for saving her life.NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Watch NOWCAST TV | Local News | National | News We Love |Keep up with the latest news and weather by downloading the WXII app here