A local nonprofit has raised enough to replace a giant inflatable colon stolen more than a week ago — and it can even purchase a second one.
In addition, officials from the Edina-based Colon Cancer Coalition, owners of the colon, said police in Kansas City, Mo., recovered the original stolen colon Monday afternoon outside a vacant house.
Thieves stole the inflatable colon-like tunnel from the back of a vehicle in Missouri on Oct. 18, perhaps thinking there was something else inside the nondescript, 150-pound shipping container.
"Why would someone take that?" said Erin Peterson, spokeswoman for the Colon Cancer Coalition. "It's an educational tool, it has no value to anyone else."
The $4,500 inflatable colon, a 10- by 12-foot tunnel people can walk through, travels to health fairs and other events around the country and was kept at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. It gives people a visual representation of what doctors might see during a colonoscopy, including features like polyps.
"It's a conversation starter," said Peterson, adding that the nonprofit owns another colon in Minnesota.
Initial efforts to raise money to replace the colon on the nonprofit's website brought in $860. Last week, two medical companies donated about $10,000 more, bringing the total to about $11,000. Quest Diagnostics, a New Jersey-based laboratory testing company, and North Carolina-based Salix Pharmaceuticals donated the funds.
"They both wanted to chip in and get us new colons, and we said, 'That's wonderful,' " Peterson said.
