Surveillance for Colorectal Cancer: 90 Real Stories
90 stories match colorectal cancer and surveillance. 79 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV Colorectal Cancer: Michelle’s Survivor Story
Michelle Cappel was a 40-year-old fifth-grade teacher when years of chronic constipation, bloating, and worsening abdominal pain finally led to a Stage IV colorectal cancer diagnosis. Her symptoms had been blamed on antidepressants, possible celiac disease…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Angelica’s Survivor Story
Angelica Allen’s follow-up story focused on how life changed after Stage III bowel cancer. She was diagnosed in 2018 at age 38, after exhaustion, iron deficiency, bloating, bowel changes, and intermittent bleeding led to emergency evaluation. Treatment began…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Angelica’s Survivor Story
Angelica Allen was 38 when she was diagnosed with Stage III bowel cancer after months of symptoms that were easy to misattribute. She had iron deficiency, severe exhaustion that lasted 7 or 8 months, bloating, bowel-movement changes, and intermittent…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Bart’s Survivor Story
Bart Wilson was 37 when lower abdominal pain and blood in his stool led to a colonoscopy in January 2020. Doctors found a large tumor blocking much of his colon, and he needed emergency surgery. The next day, he learned he had Stage IV colon cancer that had…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Cancer: Amanda’s Survivor Story
Amanda was 29 when light IBS-like symptoms and blood in her stool began. She immediately asked whether it could be colon cancer, but was told it was probably hemorrhoids, a fissure, grief, anxiety, or stress. Her symptoms persisted for almost a year. Blood…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Amy’s Survivor Story
Amy was 34 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIIB colorectal cancer associated with Lynch syndrome. Treatment was described as a marathon in 3 legs. The first leg was 6 weeks of chemotherapy plus radiation. After a break, she underwent a 9.5-hour operation…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Haley’s Survivor Story
Haley P. was 37, recently postpartum, and raising a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old when symptoms she kept explaining away led to a Stage IIIC colon cancer diagnosis. During pregnancy and after delivery, she had constipation, stomach pain, shortness of breath…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Carmen’s Survivor Story
Carmen Susman was active and felt healthy when urinary symptoms unexpectedly led to a Stage IV colorectal cancer diagnosis. In November 2021, he had a renal ultrasound to check for kidney stones. Instead, the test found a mass on his liver. Follow-up tests…
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: Dan’s Survivor Story
Dan Gut was 39 when symptoms he had ignored for about 18 months led to a major colorectal cancer prevention surgery. He had changes in bowel habits and blood in his stool, often after eating ice cream, and thought he might be lactose intolerant. When the…
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 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: Allison’s Survivor Story
Allison was 32 and already familiar with bowel symptoms because of Crohn’s disease, so subtle changes caught her attention. She noticed weight loss, severe fatigue, more blood in her stool, and a feeling that food was getting stuck. Her gastroenterologist…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Brooks’s Survivor Story
Brooks Bell was in follow-up after Stage III colorectal cancer and chemotherapy. Her July 2020 story follows a surveillance colonoscopy, a key part of monitoring after colorectal cancer treatment. She describes arriving at the endoscopy center, going through…
Read this storyStage II MSI-High Colorectal Cancer: Shannon’s Survivor Story
Shannon was 29 when severe pain after eating began in fall 2014. At first, doctors thought it might be an ulcer. In December, an emergency-room visit led to an ultrasound showing gallbladder problems, so her gallbladder was removed in January 2015. The pain…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Barbara’s Survivor Story
Barbara Majeski was 42 when colon cancer was finally diagnosed after a long period of symptoms and dismissal. She had trouble processing food, felt that things were sitting in her gut, and did not feel like herself despite being active and health-conscious…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Anatole’s Survivor Story
Anatole Karpovs was a 37-year-old pediatrician when persistent bloody stools, bowel changes and abdominal pain led him to seek care in April 2013. Blood tests were normal, but scans showed a large tumor in the lower left colon. Colonoscopy and biopsy…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Darrell’s Survivor Story
Darrell Sawyer’s colorectal cancer journey began in November 2012, when what seemed like a short stomach flu did not go away. After a month of ongoing stomach upset, a colonoscopy found a tumor in his intestines so large that the procedure could not be…
Read this story