The 23rd Annual Lamb Hall Lecture, “Forty Days” will be performed tonight at the Martha Street Culp auditorium at ETSU to spread awareness about colon cancer.
“Forty Days is a dramatization of the personal experiences of six cancer survivors,” said Assistant Director Mike Stoots. “We are extremely excited about something so personal and heartfelt.”
Kimberly Mays, who works with Barter Theater, is the creator of “Forty Days.” She interviewed six cancer patients with colon cancer and discovered they all had one message, which is to get screened often for early detection.
The actress has toured with Barter Roadside Theater for 16 years.
Her book Life’s Story is based on the true stories of cancer survivors who live in Wise County, Va.
“Forty Days” is just a continuum of that project.
Mays will perform with two other actors and musicians who are also associated with the Barter Theater.
Gill Braswell, is a member of the Barter Theater’s Resident Acting Company where he performs all year.
Like Kimberly Mays, Ben Mays has also traveled with the Barter Roadside Theater for 15 years. Mays has film credits which include roles in HBO’s The Corner, Homicide and The New Detectives.
The inspiration for this year’s lecture comes from ETSU department of public health chairperson and associate professor, Joanne Flowers, whose father died of colon cancer last year.
Flowers saw the play and told Mary Ann Littleton, assistant professor for the department of health.
Littleton’s father is also a colon cancer survivor. “He was very lucky,” she said. “His doctor never insisted on getting a colonoscopy.”
James Anderson, assistant professor of the department of public health, said that the best and most accurate test for colon cancer would be a colonoscopy, which is a procedure that can examine the entire colon and can be done every 10 years.
“Colon cancer is common among older people and generally starts with a colon polyp,” Anderson said.
A blood test should be performed every year.
The American Cancer society recommends that both men and women should begin being tested at age 50, when most men and women are at risk.
According to MSNBC.com there are about 135,400 cases of colon cancer diagnosed in the U.S. and 56,700 of those patients are expected to die this year.
Littleton also stressed the importantance of being screened and having a colonoscopy. It is also important to eat healthy – fruits, vegetables, fiber and low fat foods – and get plenty of physical activity, she said.
Free admission to the play will begin at 7 p.m.
“The performance brings home the importance of colon health to those in Appalachia through the real-life words and stories of people in our region,” Littleton said.

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