Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer: 310 Real Stories
310 stories match colorectal cancer and chemotherapy. 274 of them mention surgery.
Stage III Colorectal Cancer: Ceejay’s Patient Story
Ceejay first noticed breathlessness, which was traced to severe anemia. Blood tests and bowel tests followed, along with symptoms that included alternating diarrhea and constipation and a feeling that the bowel did not empty completely. Further evaluation led…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Trevor’s Patient Story
Trevor Maxwell began feeling unusually exhausted in early 2018. Because he had dealt with anxiety and depression before, he first thought his symptoms were mental health-related. Bloodwork changed the direction of care, and his doctor pushed for a…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Patient Story
This 32-year-old woman was diagnosed with Stage IV rectal adenocarcinoma after a routine physical found a liver abnormality in late 2015. Further tests showed a rectal tumor 5 to 8 cm from the anus, perirectal and presacral involvement, liver metastases, and…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Survivor Story
An unnamed woman was diagnosed with Stage III adenocarcinoma of the colon. Her treatment began with surgery to remove the half of the colon affected by cancer, along with lymph nodes in that area. After surgery, she received chemotherapy for 6 months. Every…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Almudena’s Survivor Story
Almudena was a medical student doing hospital rotations when rectal bleeding pushed her into the patient role. She had noticed blood in her stool 6 months earlier, at age 25, but was reassured that it was probably hemorrhoids. When bleeding happened again, a…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Alejandro’s Patient Story
Alejandro Mirazo joined the Mayo Clinic Tapestry DNA Sequencing Research Study in 2021 to contribute to research on genetics and health. He expected to help science, but the study also changed his own care. Genetic sequencing raised concern for Lynch…
Read this storyStage IV KRAS Colorectal Cancer: Kris’s Patient Story
Kris Sokolowski was 48 and diligent about checkups when a new, constant growling in his abdomen led to a scan in May 2021. His doctor saw a mass on his colon and liver and warned it might be Stage IV cancer. MRI and colonoscopy confirmed Stage IV colorectal…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Cindi’s Survivor Story
Cindi Terwoord was 62 when she acted quickly on new blood in her stool and was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in September 2019. A local oncologist recommended starting chemotherapy immediately, but Cindi waited a few days for her Cleveland Clinic…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Francisco’s Survivor Story
Francisco Goyoaga, known as Curro to friends, was 59 and deeply active in sports and horseback riding when his health changed unexpectedly. He first sought surgery for an umbilical hernia, but complications during that process led to atrial fibrillation and…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Xue’s Patient Story
Xue Ming was 26 when diarrhea that lasted more than 10 days led him to seek medical care. A doctor felt what seemed to be a tumor, and he was referred from a town hospital to larger hospitals. Colonoscopy and biopsy confirmed middle-stage rectal cancer. The…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Elizabeth’s Survivor Story
Elizabeth was living in Canada when blood in her stool led her to seek medical care in December 2022. Testing showed Stage III rectal adenocarcinoma. The diagnosis left her angry, frightened, and worried about dying and leaving her children without their…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Gordon’s Survivor Story
Gordon was diagnosed with Stage II colorectal adenocarcinoma in January 2022 after constipation and blood in his stool led to a home screening test and further evaluation. He underwent a partial colectomy. After surgery he was readmitted to hospital twice…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer Survivor Story
A R M sought medical care after poor appetite and weight loss became difficult to ignore. Testing led to a diagnosis of Stage III colorectal cancer less than a year before the story was shared. The diagnosis brought fear, sadness and worry, especially about…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Barbara’s Survivor Story
Barbara was 42, raising 3 children and going through a difficult divorce, when digestive symptoms kept being dismissed. She had trouble eating because food felt like it sat in her gut, and she repeatedly sought help. She had also documented that her father…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Brandon’s Survivor Story
Brandon Dale was 53 when he shared how symptoms he thought were hemorrhoids turned out to be Stage III rectal cancer. For years, he had burning and discomfort that would flare up, settle down with cream, and then return. He did not realize the problem was…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Lee’s Survivor Story
Lee Jones was 55 when a CT scan for what seemed like a prostate infection unexpectedly found 5 spots on his liver. A colonoscopy soon identified the primary tumor in his colon, making the diagnosis Stage IV colon cancer because it had already spread to the…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Angela’s Survivor Story
Angela developed diarrhea, blood in the stool, weight loss, loss of appetite and general discomfort over several months. Access to medical care was difficult during the COVID period, and when Angela was eventually assessed, what had seemed like it might be…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Anna’s Survivor Story
Anna’s colorectal cancer was found through routine bowel screening even though there were no symptoms. A colonoscopy identified a tumor, and the diagnosis was Stage III colorectal cancer. The news was especially difficult because Anna had already lost a…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Hilmi’s Patient Story
Hilmi was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer after a company health screening returned a positive FIT result and colonoscopy found several polyps and a tumor in his colon. He underwent a partial colectomy and has been living with a stoma. Chemotherapy…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Amanda’s Patient Story
Amanda was 34 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in April 2021. Her family history included an uncle, aunt and grandfather with colon cancer. The diagnosis of colon adenocarcinoma came as a shock, especially because she had a young son and…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Cleo’s Survivor Story
Cleo was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer in February 2021 after weight loss, persistent stomach pain, and blood in her stool led to a colonoscopy. The tumor had begun to spread locally but was still described as contained within the colon. The…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Shelley’s Survivor Story
Shelley Brown was diagnosed with Stage IIIB sigmoid colon cancer in October 2015 after a colonoscopy found cancer in the sigmoid/left colon. She had not expected a cancer diagnosis. The colonoscopy was added while she was already planning an endoscopy for…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Ben’s Survivor Story
Ben Simcox had his first colonoscopy at 28 after his sister, Heather, pushed family members to get screened because she had rectal bleeding and colon polyps. That first colonoscopy in 2009 found only non-cancerous polyps. Years later, in 2017, Ben developed…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Scott’s Patient Story
Scott Sterling was 51 in 2018 when a sudden sharp pain in his lower right abdomen led him to the emergency room. After several tests, a pelvic scan found Stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver. He learned that the disease was not considered…
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