An Edmonton Fire Rescue Services captain is using his cancer diagnosis to inspire others and raise awareness about the importance of cancer screening.

Aaron Miller credits the fire department’s yearly physical exam and screening for catching his colon cancer.

He had no symptoms or family history of the disease.

“They took out my whole colon, large intestine and lymph nodes,” he said. “They found cancer in one of the lymph nodes, so I had to go through four rounds of chemotherapy after.”

The surgery and treatment hit him hard, he said. He lost 40 pounds of muscle.

“Walking for 10 minutes felt like harder than climbing a mountain ,” he said.

Less than a month after his surgery, he returned to the gym.

“I just felt like I needed to get in there and kind of start getting back in sha

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