16.
“My symptoms were a feeling of fullness in my bottom when sitting down and bright red blood in my stool when wiping. I was 40 years old at the time and visited my doctor right away, but she dismissed it as hemorrhoids.”
“Within two months, my stools had changed shape, and I was losing weight. I reached back out to my doctor, who referred me to a gastroenterologist. From the onset of my symptoms to when I was able to finally see a specialist was six months.
They ordered a colonoscopy, but it was initially denied by my health insurer. My GI doctor appealed and had to move the procedure to a hospital before it was approved. The day of my colonoscopy, I had lost 45 pounds since my first visit to the doctor six months prior.
When I woke up from the colonoscopy, my gastroenterologist told me they found a 7-centimeter mass that was likely cancer. They took biopsies, and a few days later, those were confirmed as malignant. I had blood work and a series of imaging over the next month and was eventually diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer with metastasis to the pelvic organs, lungs, and one adrenal gland.
This was in May 2025, and now I’m almost through with my first phase of treatment. I start round seven tomorrow and should finish round eight the first week of November. My following treatment after that will be 25–35 rounds of chemoradiation.
As of today, no cancer DNA can be detected in my blood, my primary tumor is now undetectable through imaging, and all my metastasized nodes have shrunk by more than 50%.”
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