colostomy for Colorectal Cancer: 48 Real Stories
48 stories match colorectal cancer and colostomy. 46 of them mention surgery.
Colorectal Cancer: Joachim’s Survivor Story
Joachim Braun was 55 and married when he described an early rectal cancer found 5 years earlier. One day at age 50, he noticed blood in his stool. After waiting a few days and hoping it would stop, he went to a doctor, who immediately referred him for…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Jan’s Survivor Story
Jan Holgersson was 59 when he reflected on colorectal cancer diagnosed at age 55. He had lived with persistent diarrhea for more than 6 months but did not take it seriously until the symptoms worsened. Hospital testing found cancer, and he initially feared…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Tim’s Patient Story
Tim Meier was 31 when he described living with rectal cancer that had repeatedly spread to the liver. In late 2020, depression, constant fatigue, fever episodes, and side pain led to medical testing. Ultrasound showed suspicious findings in the liver, and…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Holger’s Survivor Story
Holger Pfleger was 73 when he looked back on advanced rectal cancer diagnosed in 2004. Two years earlier, a screening colonoscopy had not found anything suspicious. Later he developed diarrhea and weight loss, and a second colonoscopy found a low rectal…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Klaus’s Survivor Story
Klaus Wippich was 64 when he described rectal cancer that began when he was 28. After moving to a new city, he noticed blood in his stool. He had previously thought his symptoms were hemorrhoids, but a new doctor diagnosed rectal cancer. Treatment moved…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Cancer: Paul’s Survivor Story
Paul Reinauer was 73 when he reflected on colon cancer diagnosed at age 54. For a long time, he noticed blood in his stool and thought it might be hemorrhoids. When he finally saw a doctor, a tissue sample led to the diagnosis of bowel cancer. The news…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Clara’s Survivor Story
Clara Ott was 75 when she looked back on rectal cancer diagnosed at age 49 after many years of ulcerative colitis. She had been under regular medical observation since ulcerative colitis was found at age 25. When several examinations eventually showed rectal…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Karl’s Survivor Story
Karl Bergmann was 82 when he reflected on rectal cancer first diagnosed 23 years earlier. Blood in his stool initially seemed like hemorrhoids to him, but his wife and daughter pushed him to be examined. Colonoscopy found rectal cancer. Surgery removed the…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Gerlinde’s Survivor Story
Gerlinde Zeigert was 59, in a long-term partnership, and a former teacher and principal when she described life after hereditary colorectal cancer. Because her brother and a cousin had developed colorectal cancer early, she had already been advised to attend…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Gwen’s Survivor Story
Gwen Powell was 35, with 3 children under age 5, when repeated painful episodes were dismissed as constipation, gall or kidney stones, postpartum changes, or ovarian cysts. She kept going back for help, but it was hard to push for more testing while exhausted…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Jessica’s Patient Story
Jessica Engle’s only early symptom was that she could not pass stool for a week. On day 7, she developed stabbing pain on the right side of her abdomen, and her daughter took her to the hospital. Doctors attempted a colonoscopy, and Jessica woke up hearing…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Monica’s Survivor Story
Monica Diaz first noticed blood in her stool, followed by weight loss and abdominal pain. A colonoscopy led to a cancer diagnosis, and subsequent scans also found a tumor in her liver. She remembers the fear of potentially leaving her children while they were…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Cancer: Amanda’s Survivor Story
Amanda was 30 when almost a year of gastrointestinal symptoms finally led to a colonoscopy. Her symptoms began with daily stomach gurgling and then progressed to blood in her stool, worsening constipation, and the feeling that something was blocking bowel…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Joe’s Patient Story
Joe never had blood in his stool. His warning signs were fatigue, loss of appetite, feeling generally off, and then severe shoulder, back, stomach, and liver-area pain. Because he worked long hours in the restaurant industry, the fatigue was easy to explain…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: John’s Survivor Story
John Murray was 51 when an at-home colorectal cancer screening test came back negative. Over the following years, he had bleeding and pain that he assumed were hemorrhoids. By February 2025, at age 56, he finally scheduled a colonoscopy. The test and…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Briana’s Survivor Story
Briana was 31, active outdoors, and working in the environmental sector when symptoms began about 10 months before diagnosis. Mild constipation became repeated episodes of nausea, vomiting, lower-left abdominal pain, anemia, and worsening bowel problems. She…
Read this storyStage IV BRAF Colorectal Cancer: Jackson’s Patient Story
Jackson was 27 when worsening fatigue, thinning stool, blood in his stool, severe stomach pain, and projectile vomiting led him to the ER. He was diagnosed on January 11, 2025 with Stage IV colon cancer, a complete bowel blockage, and more than 40 tumors in…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Laura’s Patient Story
In November 2024, Laura VanBrocklin was making dinner for her 2 children when sudden nausea, urgency, and a feeling that she might pass out sent her to the emergency room. A CT scan within 30 minutes showed a bowel blockage caused by a tumor and lesions in…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren was 42 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV signet-ring cell adenocarcinoma of the colon in 2025. The diagnosis was a shock: colon cancer had not been on her radar, and she struggled with how to tell her parents, siblings, cousins, husband, and 2 young…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren was 41 when an urgent bathroom problem became the first sign of Stage IV signet-ring cell colon cancer. In mid-February 2025, she began feeling constant pressure to use the bathroom. By March 6, she counted 27 bathroom trips in 1 day. Her primary care…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: James’s Survivor Story
James had years of rectal bleeding that was repeatedly treated as hemorrhoids before he pushed for a colonoscopy himself. He was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2003, later describing it as Stage IIIC/IV. At first, doctors did not know the full extent of…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Crystal’s Survivor Story
Crystal was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 after years of symptoms that were easy to explain away, including persistent urinary tract infections and later severe abdominal pain. Imaging showed a mass, and a needle biopsy confirmed that the tumor was…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Crystal’s Survivor Story
Crystal had noticed blood in her stool for years and believed it was hemorrhoids. In 2022, symptoms became harder to ignore. Severe abdominal pain and recurring urinary tract infections pushed her to seek medical care, and a CT scan showed an abnormal mass…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Heather’s Survivor Story
Heather Russell was 35 when months of blood in her stool and thinner stools led to a colonoscopy on her birthday in March 2020. A local clinician had previously suggested hemorrhoids, and Heather delayed the procedure even as symptoms worsened. Her younger…
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