Catherine O’Hara becomes beacon of hope for rectal cancer patients

Catherine O’Hara passed away on January 30 with the underlying cause being declared as rectal cancer.

A British Columbia woman treated for colorectal cancer says she hopes news that Canadian acting legend had rectal cancer when she died, will help more people realize how common the cancer is and open up more over conversations about it.

According to Toronto Star, Mary De Vera is nearing her 10-year anniversary of being diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer and says she has watched advocacy organizations in Canada and the U.S. use O’Hara’s death as more reason to raise awareness about colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in Canada.

The Associated Press revealed that according to the beloved actress’s death certificate, her actual cause of death was a pulmonary embolism (PE), which happens when a blood clot blocks an artery in the lungs.

The certificate also listed rectal cancer as an underlying cause of death for O’Hara, who was 71 when she passed away, raising the possibility that the cancer played a role in causing her PE.

Speaking to SELF magazine, Michelle Bloom, MD, a board-certified cardiologist and director of NYU Langone’s Cardio-Oncology Program, said, “Cancer makes your blood more prone to clotting, and certain kinds of tumors release substances that make blood even stickier.”

“Plus, chemo can damage blood vessels. And having cancer means you’re more likely to be immobilized for prolonged periods in bed, which ups your risk too,” Dr. Bloom added.

Some symptoms of a pulmonary embolism include:

• Shortness of breath: “This might look like starting to feel winded while doing activities that were previously no problem, like going up the stairs,” Dr. Bloom says.
• Lightheadedness and fainting: due to a drop in blood pressure.
• Chest pain: “Take note of any kind of discomfort, or a feeling like you can’t take a deep breath or that there’s pain when you try to do so,” Dr. Bloom says.
• Pain or swelling in one leg: Usually a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or blood clot that can lead to a PE occurs in one leg, but not both, so pay attention to one-sided pain.
• Fever: This may be caused by an inflammatory reaction to the death of tissue in your lungs, which happens when it misses out on substantial blood flow.
• Racing heart or palpitations: Your heart may be overworking to push blood through the artery blockage.
• A bloody cough: Dying tissue in your lungs can spill blood into your airways.