INDIANAPOLIS -
A risky behavior among teens could be could be putting them in danger.
Jim Owen has learned life can throw you a curve ball.
"I never smoked. I was an athlete," Owen said as he got ready to throw out the first pitch at Tuesday's baseball game at Victory Field.
More than two years ago, Owen was diagnosed with throat cancer.
"Because I didn't get an early screening, it was Stage 4 and it was a tough road to hoe," he said of the treatment he underwent to fight it.
Owen and IU Simon Cancer Center were at Victory Field Tuesday, spreading the word about head and neck cancers and promoting early screening.
"It's quick, it's painless and it could save your life," said Dr. Mike Moore with IU Simon Cancer Center.
According to the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, 85 percent of head and neck cancers can be connected with tobacco use. But researches have found another cause among the younger generation.
"HPV or the human papillomavirus is becoming more appreciated to be a cause of cancers of the back of the throat in particular and that certainly is causing a spike in incidents in the younger population, especially those who don't have the classic risk factors," said Moore.
According to health professionals, one reason teens are at risk is because many don't think oral sex is really sex. Often times, teens are not thinking of oral sex as a way sexually transmitted diseases, like HPV, can be spread.
"It's a hard conversation to have and, unfortunately, kids today, it's coming earlier and earlier," said Kelly Hampton, a mother.
Hampton did the free screening at Victory Field and said she won't be afraid to talk with her daughter about the ways a person can get head and neck cancers such as smoking and oral sex.
"You have to. You have to get it out there. It's something that we have to talk about with our kids and our families and our teens," said Hampton.
"It could save you a lot of pain," said Owen of education and early screening for head and neck cancers.
Owen said both were proactive approaches to preventing head and neck cancers or catching the disease before its too late. More than half of all people with head and neck cancers have very advanced cases by the time they see a doctor.
The screening takes less than 10 minutes.
Risky behavior by teenagers puts them at risk for oral cancer, doctors say.
The screening for oral cancer takes about 10 minutes.
Jim Owen was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer two years ago.
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