‘I found my people’: Creating community for survivors

As a PGA TOUR Champions golf tournament, the Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences of course attracts pro golfers and a crowd of folks who come to watch them play each March.

Many in the crowd connect over a shared love of golf. Others, though, share a different kind of bond: They’ve all been touched by colorectal cancer (CRC).

Since its start in 2018, the tournament has included CRC survivors and others to help amplify the importance of CRC screening.

In the years since, the Tucson, Arizona, tournament has grown into a celebration for the CRC community.

In 2024, 327 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, survivors, and loved ones traveled from 32 states and three countries to experience the tournament.

Exact Sciences makes the Cologuard^® test and provides grants to a dozen CRC advocacy groups to help people attend the Cologuard Classic. To help even more survivors be part of it, the company in 2023 launched its Sponsor a Survivor program, helping to grow the community of support the tournament offers.

To commemorate National Cancer Survivors Month in June, some CRC patients who attended through the program share what the tournament community has meant to them as they fight the disease.

“My experience at the Cologuard Classic 2024 was life changing. After feeling so alone since my diagnosis of Stage 3 CRC, it was like the sky parted and I found my people. Fellow survivors, patients, caregivers, advocates, and the event’s organizers — we became a family, and I no longer felt alone. One month after returning from the Cologuard Classic, I faced a recurrence and metastatic spread. My ‘family’ that I had just met have been there every step of the way as I navigate these next steps. Without the Sponsor a Survivor Program, I would not have been able to attend the Cologuard Classic. I am so thankful for the generosity that brought me there.”

— Erinn Stampe

“My time at the Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences meant the world to me. I fight Stage 4 colon cancer every single day for my hubby and my five kids. Being surrounded by other fighters, survivors, and those there in memory of a loved one made me realize that I am not alone in this horrible fight.”

— Loralee Lovell

Tax-deductible contributions help offset travel costs for survivors to attend the Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences. Learn more about the Sponsor a Survivor program.