Text Chain Helped Comedian Jeff Ross Catch His Cancer (Exclusive)

Comedian Jeff Ross is grateful to have beaten stage 3 colon cancer — and even more grateful for catching it in time.

He credits a text chain with his friends for inspiring him to get things checked out in the first place.

“After the Tom Brady roast, I had a little break. I’d been working really hard for a long time, and I finally had a few weeks where I was like, ‘Oh, I better go to the dentist, go to the shrink, and all that,” he tells PEOPLE. “And my pal Jordan had kept nagging our group text chain to get colonoscopies.’ ”

He says he knew he was supposed to get one at 50, but he kept putting it off. The American Cancer Society currently recommends that anyone with “average risk” of colorectal cancer should begin regular screening at 45.

“Clearly, I waited almost a decade too long,” says the now 60-year-old. “And they found a stage 3 tumor in there. If I hadn’t had the colonoscopy, I would never have known. I never felt sick, I had no symptoms.”

Ross was beyond shocked by the diagnosis.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you,” he says. “But it’s funny, I posted a picture on my text chain to my buddies of what they took out of me, and it inspired them all to get colonoscopies too.”

He’s now continuing to advocate for people to get them. “I’ve got to tell, and tell this to your reader, the colonoscopy is nothing. People go, ‘I don’t want to do all the prep!’ But just do it. It’s easy.”

After Ross’s surgery to remove the tumor, he endured chemotherapy for six months.

“It was horrible. But not as horrible as it was when my mom went through it in the ’80s,” admits Ross, whose mother died of cancer when he was a teenager.

“Things have gotten a lot better,” he adds. “And my doctors were really great. Going into it was terrifying because I remembered my mom and what she’d gone through.”

He jokes that one side effect of chemo wasn’t an issue: “Luckily, I’d already lost all my hair.”

He also says that the experience was beautiful in the way that so many people showed up for him.

“I had friends come with me, and my sister or my cousins or my aunt would just come and sit with me. My neighbor made banana muffins that I would bring for the nurses. I couldn’t believe how much people cared,” he says.

He adds, “There’s a reason we invest in each other, as friends. Sometimes you have to cash it in a little bit, all that goodwill. But I still have my high school and college friends. And I like to think that I’m very diverse and loyal in my friendships and that they’re not just from the comedy world or the show business world. They’re from every aspect of my life. I have trouble getting rid of people!”

Ross most recently performed his one-man show on Broadway, Take a Banana for the Ride, and is considering taking the show on the road. He says he’s going to continue his duties as a roast master, which he’s done for over 30 years. For Ross, making fun of people on stage is the strangest job, but one he’s so grateful for.

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“People always stop me and ask me to roast them,” he says. “I like it because it’s a sign of respect that they know who I am, and they appreciate what I do. It’s one of those careers you’d never consider.”

He notes it’s similar to catching his cancer in time to treat it: “It’s one of those happy accidents in my life.”