Co Co the colossal colon was in town last week and although it's been packed up and has moved on, it's certainly had an impact on Southwest Florida.

Oncology Care Specialist Laurie Wise says "We hope Coco's legacy is that it will get people talking about colon cancer screening because it is a preventable, treatable disease if caught early."

Pharmaceutical Rep & CoCo Volunteer Greg Hargitt says "Now more than ever there are so many more options for patients who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The outlook is getting better, but the key is early diagnosis."

Early diagnosis, education and awareness. Those are three main goals that CoCo wanted people to learn about. We asked nursing student Abigail Santiago what she walked away with from her visit with coco. "With more knowledge for myself first of all, and more knowledge to teach other people especially family and friends that, you know, it's important to know these things, it's your body so you should know these things."

Laurie also says that "We need to keep talking about colon cancer screening. If you have a family member who's diagnosed with colon cancer, you need to encourage other family members to get screened.

And if you are over the age of 50 and you haven't had your colonoscopy yet, mention this to your physician.

Since 2002 Coco has been traveling around the US and Canada. It was here for 5 days and is now headed to San Antonio, Texas.