To catch colorectal cancer early, advocates push to make 'poop talk' OK

start08/iStockphoto/Getty Images No one ever mentioned to Rick Rivers that his grandfather died of colorectal cancer — until Rivers himself was diagnosed at age 31. Cancer felt like a taboo topic in his family, where diabetes, for example, was not. And especially so, because of where the cancer grew in his body. "There's a shame factor to talk about certain areas of your body and them not functioning the way that they're supposed to," says Rivers, a father of three in Williamstown, N.J. …