(RNN) – When it comes to colons, three’s company in Kansas City.
An inflatable colon, used at events to promote colon cancer awareness by the Colon Cancer Coalition, was stolen from a driveway in Missouri earlier this month.
The search for the #stolencolon became something of a media sensation, and resulted in more than $11,000 being raised for the organization to buy two replacements.
But earlier this week Kansas City Police announced they had found the “giant, inflatable, pilfered intestine” in a vacant house.
The organization was elated to have the original colon, which was purchased last year with funds raised through a 5K race called Get Your Rear in Gear, back.
“Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and 60 percent of colorectal cancer deaths could be prevented with colonoscopy screening,” the race director, Stacie Moody, said in a press release. “Now we have three inflatable colons to help teach about the dangers of colon cancer and benefits of colon screenings.”
According to the Colon Cancer Coalition, the stolen colon saga was covered around the world, with news of it reaching 186 million people.
“The colon’s ‘job’ is to raise awareness and to start conversations about colon cancer. To that end, the colon has succeeded,” the organization wrote on its website. “There are more people talking about colon cancer today than there were yesterday.”
And there are now two more colons in Kansas City than there were two weeks ago.
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