As a wave of colon cancer hits young people, seemingly at random, a worrying new pattern has emerged.
Women, in particular, are coming forward in droves saying their symptoms were dismissed for months and even years by doctors as ‘lady problems’.
Because colorectal cancers cause abdominal symptoms like cramps, changes to toilet habits and other effects like weight loss, women say they are being written off as period issues or hormonal problems.
Figures show that while men are 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer before 50, women are diagnosed when the cancer is more advanced than men.
Kelly Spill Bonito, from New Jersey, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2022 year at age 27.
Her first symptoms emerged when she was eight months pregnant, with constipation and blood in her stool but doctors thought her pregnancy had caused hemorrhoids.
Meanwhile Monica – who wished to withhold her last name – had constant pain in her side and her stomach swelled so much and she could barely stand.
Doctors thought she was pregnant on first inspection but when they eliminated that theory, they put the pain down to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Kelly Spill Bonito from New Jersey was 27 years old when she found blood in her stool while pregnant with her first child. It turned out to be stage 3 colon cancer
Six months later, she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at age 31.
Similarly, fit and healthy Emily King from Alabama went to the doctor after suffering from stomach pain and a little blood in her stool.
However, doctors diagnosed her with the virus mono and they even failed to spot her cancer in CT scans ‘because they weren’t looking for it’, she claims.
Months later in April 2019, after more blood in her stool led her to ER, further tests confirmed she had stage 3 colon cancer at 27.
Their stories come amid an explosion in ‘early onset’ cancers in the US. By 2019 the rates in young people were 79 percent higher compared to in 1990.
The five-year survival rate for colon cancer is 64 percent, but that drops to 14 percent if the cancer has spread, which commonly occurs in early-onset cases because symptoms are often not present or are misdiagnosed until the cancer has spread throughout the body.
Symptoms include changes in bathroom habits, blood in stool, weakness, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, a lump in the abdomen or rectum, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, constipation and vomiting.
Kelly, Monica and Emily all spoke out about their battles with colon cancer on the YouTube channel The Patient Story:
The highly embarrassing symptom we should never ignore
Instead of chemotherapy and surgery, Kelly took part in a clinical trial and she was one of four people in the US to test a new cancer drug called dostarlimab
Kelly reveals that she found blood in her stool while eight months pregnant with her first child. She also suffered from constipation.
She visited her doctor but was told her symptoms were related to her pregnancy and there was nothing to worry about.
But after having her son, Kelly’s symptoms of constipation, blood in her stool, fluctuating appetite, and weight loss worsened.
Detailing another unpleasant side effect, she says: ‘Something that stuck out to me was the smell that I was smelling [when I went to the bathroom].
‘It’s always a little embarrassing for me to say, but I’ve learned that when I have said that, this is actually something that other people have experienced as well with this [kind of’] cancer.
‘So I do like to say that it was almost like a sewer smell.’
Multiple doctors wrote these symptoms off as internal hemorrhoids, swollen and inflamed veins located in the anus or lower rectum also known as piles.
Hemorrhoid cause similar symptoms to colon cancer with rectal bleeding and changes in bowel habits.
But Kelly was not convinced and continued to search for answers.
After numerous doctor visits over the course of several months, she finally found a doctor who was willing to listen to her concerns and ordered her a colonoscopy.
It was at this colonoscopy in 2022 she learned she had a tumor in her colon, beginning her journey with stage 3 colorectal cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of around 70-73 percent.
Instead of chemotherapy and surgery, Kelly took part in a clinical trial in 2022 and she was one of four people in the US to test a new cancer drug called dostarlimab.
By Kelly’s ninth treatment with the drug, doctors found her tumor had miraculously disappeared.
As the dostarlimab meant Kelly avoided many side effects of standard treatment – including loss of fertility – she was able to fulfil her dream of expanding her family.
Since her remission in 2023, she has had a daughter, with her third child due in May.
I thought the pain was because I changed my diet
Monica – who does not give her last name – found it difficult to get doctors to listen to her health concerns. The Australian, who is currently living in Croatia, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer last year when she was 31 years old
Like Kelly, Monica found it difficult to get doctors to listen to her health concerns.
The Australian, who is currently living in Croatia, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer last year when she was 31 years old.
But she said it took around six months to find out she had the disease.
Initially, she experienced a pain in her side, which she attributed to a change in her diet.
But when the pain would not subside, Monica went to see a doctor.
The physician advised her to get an ultrasound of her stomach and she was also told to make an appointment with a gynecologist.
After all of the tests and scans came back clear, Monica’s doctor put her symptoms down to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
IBS and colon cancer can share similar symptoms such as abdominal pain, cramping, nausea, constipation, bloating and diarrhea.
A few months later, Monica’s condition deteriorated further with more pain and she found her stomach swelled so much that she ‘looked pregnant’ and couldn’t stand comfortably.
She went to the hospital and was given a CT scan. That’s when doctors discovered a 4cm tumor was blocking her intestines.
She has since undergone two surgeries and recently completed her ninth round of chemotherapy.
As surgeons had to remove a portion of her bowel, Monica has also been fitted with a stoma.
This means she has an opening on her abdomen with a pouch attached to collect waste that usually passes through the colon.
Monica ‘woke up with a stoma’ as surgeons had to remove a portion of her bowel
In a bid to raise awareness around early onset colon cancer, Monica started posting videos on her condition to TikTok.
In a bid to raise awareness around early onset colon cancer, Monica started posting videos on her condition to TikTok.
Along with extreme sickness caused by the chemotherapy, Monica says one of the roughest parts of her cancer battle has been losing her hair.
But trying to maintain an upbeat attitude, she says experimenting with wigs has been fun.
I played sports and ate healthy… my diagnosis was a complete shock
Emily King is another young cancer patient trying to raise awareness for people to get checked if they notice an unexplainable change in their bodies.
The former first grade teacher from Alabama found out she had stage 3 colon cancer when she was just 27 years old.
She said the diagnosis, in April 2019, came as a complete shock as she had always maintained a very healthy diet and was very active as a player on the college tennis team.
When it came to symptoms, Emily said she initially noticed stomach pains and a little blood in her stool, but thought nothing of it.
However, when she finally went to the doctor they believed she had mononucleosis, commonly known as mono, which is a viral infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Some of the symptoms Emily experienced included fatigue, muscle aches, and abdominal pain.
Emily King from Alabama found out she had stage 3 colon cancer when she was 27 years old
She said the diagnosis came as a complete shock as she was living a ‘very healthy lifestyle’ at the time. She explained: ‘I played college tennis, I was a swimmer, and was very active’
To date, Emily’s cancer treatments have failed to keep the disease at bay but she is currently part of a clinical trial which she is positive about.
After doing a CT scan, the doctors determined that the virus was impacting her appendix and they opted to remove it.
Emily says during all of these scans, her cancer was missed as the doctors were not looking for it.
It was only when Emily experienced blood in her stool again months later that she went to the ER.
Doctors performed another CT scan and a follow-up colonoscopy confirmed she had a tumor in her colon. She was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer.
Just two days later, she went in for surgery and had about a foot of her colon removed along with 23 lymph nodes.
But despite numerous surgeries, the caner spread to her lungs – making her a stage 4 cancer patient – and more than 35 rounds of chemotherapy have also failed to work.
Five years after her initial diagnosis, Emily is now part of a clinical trial that she is positive about, with her cancer shrinking by 20 percent so far.
You can watch the full episode on The Patient Story channel on YouTube