If I could wish you and your families one thing in 2007, it would be good health. May you have a year in which family and business plans are not blown away by the onset of a serious illness.

But, unfortunately, wishing doesn’t make for good health. Like so many other things, the only one that can do something about your health is you. You can eat right, get lots of exercise and live a balanced lifestyle. That will help — and you can visit your doctor.

This past September, I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I am lucky — I am in early stages and I live a few blocks away from one of the best cancer-treatment hospitals in Canada. My odds of beating the disease are high.

But colorectal cancer is considered a silent killer. Often, by the time it is discovered, it has spread and the odds of survival drop.

In Canada, about 20,000 men and women a year are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Of those, about 40% will die. In fact, after lung cancer, it is the leading cause of cancer death. Yet this is a disease that is not only treatable but totally preventable. Screening tests can detect the polyps that can turn into cancer — and they can be easily removed before they become cancerous.

The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada recommends that anyone over the age of 50 be screened regularly for colorectal cancer. That is, if you are of average risk. If there is a family history of cancer, the association recommends undergoing screening sooner.

In fact, a lot of illnesses can be treated if they are discovered early. Yet I talk to numerous people in their 40s, 50s and 60s — the prime years for the onset of heart disease and cancer — who can’t find the time for an annual checkup.

“Oh, yes,” they say, “I’ve been meaning to do that.”

Let me tell you: taking the time to see a doctor and schedule a screening test is a small inconvenience if you compare it to the time you will spend in hospitals and doctors’ offices if you are diagnosed with cancer or another serious illness.

A lot of people are put off by the thought of a colonoscopy, one of the screening tests for colorectal cancer. It sends a little camera to explore your lower digestive system from the bottom up. The point of entry seems to make some people reticent even to discuss the test.

But, again, let me assure you the unpleasantness of a colonoscopy is nothing compared to surgery that cuts away a few feet of your bowel. A colonoscopy may take you out of commission for 24 hours. Major surgery will put you down for three weeks or more.

None of us likes to face our own mortality. And most of us don’t like change. We prefer to believe that life goes on as it always has, that tomorrow will be as good as today, if not better.

There are many of us at Princess Margaret Hospital who can attest that that is not the way it happens.

So, my recommendation to you: put your health at the top of your New Year’s resolutions. If you haven’t had an annual checkup, make an appointment. If you are over the age of 50, ask you doctor about screening.

And don’t be put off. General practitioners are not quick to recommend colono-scopies. If you look healthy, they assume you are. The medical establishment is still treating illnesses; it is not yet thinking about preventing disease. That is up to you. Tell your doctor you want to be screened.

Take control of your health. It can make a huge difference to your life and to the people who love you. Then you will be in a position to enjoy this year’s ski trip or the long–anticipated trip to Tuscany, or holding that first grandchild in your arms.

Tessa Wilmott, Editor-In-Chief