Matt Scott and his children, Leighton and Finley, put together snap on toys at their south county home. Scott's wife, Erin, recently lost her battle with colon cancer and he is adjusting to life as a single dad. Photo by David HopperBY KIM MORGAN
Chronicle correspondent

Whether he's getting the kids ready for the day or ready for bed, Imperial Oaks resident Matt Scott knows something is missing.

But he's not sure yet if the kids do.

"I've been pretty straightforward," Scott said. "But I don't think they fully comprehend they don't have a mommy anymore."

Scott, 32, lost his wife Erin to colon cancer Feb. 2, just a few days before her 33rd birthday.

Erin was diagnosed soon after the birth of her daughter Finley on Dec. 1, 2007.

"It pretty much tore everything apart," Scott said. "We had a good life, everything was right for us. We had our second child, a girl, which is what we wanted. I had gotten promoted at work, and we both had jobs we loved."

Erin was a guidance counselor at Conroe ISD's York Junior High School. Scott is a firefighter at Station 64 in Houston.

Although Erin's doctors told her the cancer had likely been growing for five to eight years, she did not have any symptoms until after Finley was born. Even then, her main symptom of constipation was attributed to her pain medication since she had undergone a Cesarean section.

But it turned out the blockage was caused by the cancer. Erin was diagnosed at Stage IV, because it had already spread to her abdominal wall.

Scott said there is no family history of colon cancer in Erin's family.

But now there is, and that means Finley, now 2, and Leighton, 4, will have to begin their colon cancer screenings when they are 20 – which is 10 years earlier than Erin was diagnosed.

Colonoscopies are the best screening tool, said Dr. Thomas Newton, a colorectal surgeon at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital.

With no family history and no symptoms, the first one should be scheduled at age 50.

"The reason we start checking at 50 is because the vast majority of people with colon cancer are over 60," said Newton, adding that a case such as Erin's is very rare.

Symptoms include bleeding with bowel movements or a change in bowel habits that lasts longer than a couple of weeks.

If you have any symptoms, forget about the age recommendation and go to the doctor immediately.

That's what Matt Finley wishes he had done, but his symptoms were a little unclear and could easily be attributed to something else.

The bouts of gastrointestinal distress weren't exactly incapacitating him, and he thought that lump in his abdomen was a stomach muscle.

"But it was a tumor," said Finley, who lives in Imperial Oaks, the same neighborhood as the Scott family. "I was put in the hospital."

Finley was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer last October. He's 32.

Matt Finley sits in his Harris County Precinct 4 police carFinley, a native Houstonian, has not been able to go back to his job as a deputy patrol officer with Harris County Precinct 4, because of intense weekly chemotherapy treatments.

Finley isn't sure how long he will need chemo, but the idea is to shrink the size of the tumor so surgeons can go in and remove what's left.

Surgery, Newton said, offers the best chance for survival.

That's what Finley's father David did, after he was diagnosed with colon cancer two years ago at age 62.

"Even though we know there is an increased risk when there is family history, the most common occurrence of colorectal cancer is sporadic and without family history," Newton said.

Just like Erin Scott.

"Cancer sucks," said her widower husband, who had been married to Erin for six years. "Especially colon cancer."

Want to help?
An education fund for Leighton and Finley Scott, and a medical fund for Matt Finley, has been established at Woodforest National Bank, 1330 Lake Robbins, Suite 100, The Woodlands, 77380

Want to go?
What: Colorectal Cancer Seminar
When: 6:30 p.m. March 31
Where: Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Newton, colorectal surgeon
Register: 281-364-5959