Too young for cancer?


Too young for cancer?.

Most people who follow me know that a few years ago, my ‘too young’ husband – 37 years old – was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. No family history – And just like Katherine below, his first attempts at getting it looked at were met with less severe diagnosis than cancer. Doctors use statistics when making some calls as to whether to further investigate certain symptoms and age, family history, current physical condition all weigh in. Why would a young, seemingly healthy person get cancer? Right? See the problem…… Thank God, my husband and I knew enough to notice in time that this was not merely hemorrhoids as we were originally told and sought out further help. As the article below mentions, colon cancer untreated early is almost always deadly…I get chills every time I read that —

When Katherine Miller was 24, she saw a doctor for an array of symptoms including anemia, fainting, stomach pain and rectal bleeding. She received a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. At the age of 25, after the full physical exam required for medical school admission, Miller was declared to be in peak fitness. At the age of 26, she died. Just before her death, when a follow-up colonoscopy and CT scan were finally done, colon cancer was found to have spread to her liver. While colon cancer discovered early is highly treatable, once it has metastasized, it is nearly always deadly.I’ve found in nearly 100 interviews with cancer survivors under 40, such stories of symptoms being dismissed with the claim that “you are too young for cancer” are shockingly common.


2 responses to “Too young for cancer?”

  1. Thank you very much for sharing this… Nowadays, it seems no age is spared from cancer.. It’s just so sad how scary life is turning out to be… I had a grandmother who died from lung cancer.. And I know how sad and unbearably painful she had to suffer. Thank you for making us as well-informed as possible so that our loved ones doesn’t have to suffer from such a terrible disease.