A young mother has revealed the symptoms that led to her stage 3 colorectal diagnosis.
About 150,000 Americans are diagnosed annually with colorectal cancer, and a growing number of young people are finding themselves battling the disease.
Though the typical recommendation is to begin getting colonoscopies at 45, Bri Mahon noticed a few red flags that prompted her to get a colonoscopy at 31 — a choice that would prove to be life-saving.
A staggering 20% of colorectal cases in 2019 were discovered in people younger than 55, up from 11% in 1995.
Alarmingly, this younger demographic tends to be diagnosed in the disease’s later stages, in part because doctors and patients are quick to dismiss or misdiagnose symptoms.
Mahon recalled that she has always suffered from low-grade GI distress, saying on TikTok, “The past few years, I have had just gut issues in general, a lot of bloating, a lot of signs that would point more toward IBS.”
She maintained a clean diet free of gluten, dairy and soy to alleviate irritation and took a panel of allergy and blood tests, but no discernible source for her upset was found.
Two years ago, she noticed a marked decrease in her energy levels and an increase in her anxiety.
“I actually had to step back from the work that I was doing. I was having panic attacks, and I think it’s just because my body was really, really, really tired and going through whatever it’s going through, growing a tumor,” she said.
Colon cancer, like many other cancers, coincides with feelings of total exhaustion; roughly 8% of younger patients report symptoms of fatigue in the months before a diagnosis. Tumor-generated hormones can deplete energy and contribute to general malaise.
Having given birth to twin boys at 23 weeks, Mahon initially assumed that the blood in her stool and the exhaustion she felt were postpartum symptoms.
“I thought the bleeding was just hemorrhoids from pregnancy,” she explained. “My IBS symptoms were flaring up, and I just kind of thought that was it.
“My boys spent four months in the NICU, I thought It was stress. I thought it was depression. I thought it was anxiety. I justified it in my head.”
Recent research found that the most common red flag for colorectal cancer in young people was rectal bleeding, as nearly half of those diagnosed reported blood on their toilet paper or in their toilet bowl.
Bleeding from hemorrhoids is typically a bright red color due to the blood originating in the anus or rectum. Meanwhile, blood from colon cancer tends to be dark red, bordering on black, because it originates higher in the digestive tract, giving it more time to oxidize and darken.
While blood can be a symptom of colon cancer, other causes of rectal bleeding include IBD, anal fissures and hemorrhoids. In any case, a medical professional should address and assess this type of bleeding.
“It was definitely a sign that something was wrong,” said Mahon.
“I really got concerned when the blood turned a lot darker, and my urgency to go to the bathroom was kind of out of control, and I would either be insanely constipated or I’d be going to the bathroom, and just dark blood would be coming out.”
Experts note that while occasional constipation is not a cause for concern, if your bathroom habits change dramatically and you’re stopped up for weeks or months at a time it could be a sign that cancer is obstructing your bowels.
Very thin stools can also be a sign, as can severe diarrhea.
Alarmed by the color and frequency of the blood in her stool, Mahon was referred to a GI doctor who initially thought she had an autoimmune disease.
“Once I got the colonoscopy, she told me that she was pretty confident it was cancer. We did 10 biopsies during the colonoscopy, and then found out it’s stage 3 cancer,” she recalled.
The disease is caused by changes in DNA, which can be inherited from parents or acquired later in life by consuming a low-fiber and high-fat Western diet, adopting a sedentary lifestyle, drinking a lot of alcohol and/or smoking.
Because of the troubling trend of cancer cases rising among young people, the US Preventive Services Task Force updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines in 2021 to lower the recommended age to start screening from 50 to 45 for adults at average risk.
For those with a close family history or certain bowel diseases like Crohn’s, the recommendation is even earlier.
Mahon is now cancer-free following a grueling healing process that included several rounds of chemotherapy, a colectomy with ileostomy, hormone therapy and later a reverse ileostomy.
Experts agree that early detection and treatment are key to survival with colorectal and other cancers.
