Less than two months before he died of colorectal cancer at just 48, James Van Der Beek, said, “you can have no symptoms and still have cancer” – words that highlight why early screening matters, no matter how old you are.
His warning reflects a much larger reality – that colorectal cancer remains one of the world’s deadliest cancers.
In 2020 alone, an estimated 930,000 people died from the disease worldwide – a number expected to rise in the coming years. In the United States, it is projected to cause approximately 55,230 deaths in 2026, making it the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men and women combined, the American Cancer Society (ACS) reports.
Behind those staggering statistics are real lives – and in recent years, several high-profile deaths have put a face to the disease.
Chadwick Boseman, the beloved Black Panther star, was just 43 when he died of colorectal cancer in 2020. Now, James Van Der Beek, who would have turned 49 on March 8, has become the latest high-profile name to tragically lose his life to the same disease.
