ileostomy for Colorectal Cancer: 66 Real Stories
66 stories match colorectal cancer and ileostomy. 65 of them mention surgery.
Stage III Colorectal Cancer: Laura’s Patient Story
Laura Filip was 34 when she was living through treatment for rectal cancer diagnosed in December 2022. Blood in her stool during summer 2022 led to testing, including a colonoscopy that found the tumor. A coronavirus infection delayed her hospital admission…
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 storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jutta’s Patient Story
Jutta Groß was 47, a single mother of 2, and already familiar with hereditary colorectal cancer risk. At 19, because of familial adenomatous polyposis and many colon polyps, her colon was removed and the small intestine was connected to the sphincter. She…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Sydney’s Patient Story
Sydney Stoner had digestive issues for years before lower abdominal pain became debilitating. The pain shifted from occasional constipation to frequent heavy pain with constipation and diarrhea. She tried elimination diets and holistic doctors, but she knew…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Rebecca’s Survivor Story
Rebecca Barber had recently had a baby when she began bleeding while going to the bathroom in 2019. The bleeding worsened, and a sigmoidoscopy found a tumor while she was awake with only the doctor and a nurse present. The moment felt unreal, and she later…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Stéphanie’s Patient Story
Stéphanie Lévesque learned she had Stage III colorectal cancer on February 14, 2023, when she and her partner met with the surgeon who had performed her colonoscopy on February 6. The diagnosis was difficult to absorb, but her surgeon explained that the tumor…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Kaitlin’s Patient Story
Kaitlin Van Saders first noticed bowel changes after the birth of her second son. She was going to the bathroom more often and asked a GI doctor for a colonoscopy, but at age 32, with no family history, she was denied and told to decrease stress. During…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Karina’s Survivor Story
Karina Bandera had just turned 40 when she was told she had Stage IIIC rectal cancer. She had always considered herself healthy and kept up with yearly primary-care visits, but then noticed streaks of blood in her stool. A gastroenterologist referred her for…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Janine’s Patient Story
Janine Stellacci had been an athlete since her teenage years. Around age 40, she began experiencing severe fatigue and changing gastrointestinal symptoms, which she initially attributed to stress, hormones, and being a woman. After several years, occasional…
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 III Colorectal Cancer: Laura’s Survivor Story
Laura Behnke noticed blood in her stool a few days before embryo implantation, but the bleeding stopped and she focused on pregnancy after IVF. It returned in her 2nd trimester, and she assumed it was hemorrhoids because pregnancy and postpartum hemorrhoids…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Catherine’s Patient Story
Catherine was 10 weeks pregnant when persistent rectal bleeding, bloating, and trouble going to the bathroom led to sigmoidoscopy. The procedure found a rectal tumor. Further CT, MRI, and biopsy workup showed Stage III rectal cancer: it had reached lymph…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jackie’s Patient Story
Jackie was diagnosed with Stage IIIB rectal cancer after constant blood in her stool and worsening constipation led to colonoscopy. CT imaging raised concern for a liver spot, but that finding was later considered nothing. Genetic testing then showed Lynch…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Justine’s Patient Story
Justine was a 30-year-old kindergarten teacher when bowel changes, soft stool, and blood led her to seek answers. On February 11, 2019, a colonoscopy found a tumor, and she was staged with Stage IIIB rectal cancer. Her first plan was 5 weeks of capecitabine…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Cancer: Allison’s Survivor Story
Allison was 32 and living with Crohn’s disease in remission when new symptoms felt different from anything she had experienced before. About 1.5 years earlier, she had the cleanest colonoscopy of her life. Then she began losing weight, feeling severely…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Kristen’s Survivor Story
Kristen developed new abdominal pain and severe constipation around the end of April. At first, she wondered if food was the cause, but the episodes kept returning almost every 3 weeks. Doctors repeatedly told her it was IBS-C, even as she struggled to use…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Nathan’s Survivor Story
Nathan, a 35-year-old father of 5, had persistent heartburn, digestive problems, early fullness, exhaustion, and later severe abdominal pain. Blood work in the emergency room showed major anemia, and colonoscopy revealed colon cancer: a baseball-sized tumor…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: David’s Patient Story
David spent months trying to get answers for worsening digestive symptoms, severe fatigue, ribbony stool, blood in his stool, and about 70 pounds of weight loss. His symptoms were repeatedly attributed to stress, depression, anxiety, medication effects, or…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Scott’s Patient Story
Scott was featured by the Colorectal Cancer Alliance in a video titled “Scott’s Colorectal Cancer Story.” His public story confirms that he had colorectal cancer, but it shares only limited clinical detail. His stage, primary site, biomarker status, treatment…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Alyssa’s Patient Story
Alyssa Kelly was 38 and pregnant in early 2021 when abdominal discomfort, weight loss and a concerning ultrasound finding led to an MRI. The news came by phone: Stage IV colon cancer. The main tumor was the size of a softball and pressed on her uterus…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Sydney’s Patient Story
Sydney had years of constipation, bloating, and pain before anyone found the cause. She thought it might be IBS and tried diet changes, including gluten-free and dairy-free eating. Doctors repeatedly told her she was too young for colon cancer. In mid-2020…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Cora’s Patient Story
Cora was preparing to start private practice as a therapist when colorectal cancer changed her life. Before diagnosis, fatigue was the first major clue. She was sleeping instead of eating, losing weight unintentionally, and repeatedly being evaluated for…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kristie’s Patient Story
Kristie was 51 when her first colonoscopy changed everything. She had gone in after her OB-GYN pushed her to complete screening that had been delayed after COVID. She had dealt with constipation for much of her life and later recognized pencil-thin stools as…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Scott’s Survivor Story
Scott Zeff was 67 when a prostate exam for urinary issues led indirectly to a rectal cancer diagnosis. He was given medication for a swollen prostate, but because he had never had a colonoscopy, he was advised to schedule one. A few months later, colonoscopy…
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