In social media images, one New Zealand college student looked like the picture of youth and health — but as she revealed on TikTok, a deadly disease was hiding under the surface.
Last year, Dominique McShaine was an average third-year psychology student at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, coming home from a trip to Asia and looking forward to celebrating her 21st birthday.
Then she began experiencing extreme fatigue, often needing to take naps throughout the day despite getting a full night of sleep and struggling to stay awake in her classes.
On May 3, 2024, she posted a video on TikTok that revealed she’d been diagnosed with incurable colorectal cancer.
“I wanted to start this TikTok because essentially what I wanted to do in my life was help people,” she said in the video.
She had been planning to continue studying clinical psychology — before doctors only gave her one to five years to live.
She went on to say that she had to drop out of school in order to begin chemotherapy treatment, which she described as “intense.”
“I’ve had one chemotherapy so far and I’ve had some really bad days,” she said. But she’s hoping she can still fulfill her goal of helping people by sharing her story and raising awareness.
“I wanted to make a difference somehow and leave something behind and hopefully help people,” she said. “And I know that cancer is getting a lot more common in the colon for like younger people.”
Recent studies have documented a significant increase in colorectal cancer among younger adults. A 2023 report by the American Cancer Society highlighted that 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in patients under 55, approximately double the rate in 1995.
“I wanted to eventually share my symptoms and like raise awareness just so that other people hopefully catch it sooner before me because it sucks,” she added.
In May, she told the New Zealand Herald that, in addition to fatigue, some of her other symptoms included constipation, diarrhea, stomach pains, blood in her stool, and loss of appetite.
McShaine’s video received over 5 million views, with many commentators sharing messages of hope and support.
“I went through stage 4 colon cancer, told I had maybe 2 years to live. That was 2002,” one viewer wrote.
“My dad had colon cancer in the late 1980s. they gave him 18 months to live,” another viewer commented. “He died at 76 years old in 2015. Fight with everything you have sweetheart. and don’t give up.”
McShaine, who has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok, has frequently posted updates about her cancer journey.
“I still can’t comprehend how I can look so well and healthy yet be so sick inside to the point I have a terminal illness?!” she wrote in a January post. “Like how is my sickness past the point of curability? The math isn’t mathing in my head still…not sure if it ever will.”
But in late January she shared devastating news: The cancer had spread to her lungs and she was given less than a year to live.
“After taking just six weeks of chemotherapy to give my body time to recover, I’ve instead been overwhelmed by severe pain and fatigue. These symptoms led to an early scan, which showed that my cancer has not only grown, but has also spread to my lungs,” she said.
“The oncologists have now estimated I have less that a year left, and it’s like to be months.
“This came much sooner than anyone anyone anticipated, and the reality is crushing. I had hoped for many more years, but now that seams out of reach.
She said she was “deeply heartbroken” but encouraged friends to reach out to spend time with her — and everyone to pray.
On Valentine’s Day, she posted a video thanking her supporters, who have raised almost $20,000 through a donation page to help her pay for her medical expenses.
