After ignoring her symptoms for three years due to fear of screening, a 31-year-old Washington woman has been diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer and says she has less than a year to live.
"I'm going to die in the next year. I've had blood in my stool for three years now because I have colon cancer. I was so afraid of a colonoscopy and now I have end-stage cancer. It's my fault," she wrote on Reddit. Daily Mail.
"I messed up and now I have to make a decision. I don't want to be treated because any treatment only means prolonging my life, but not a cure. I don't want to burden my family and I want this last year of my life to be positive. I don't want the last days spend in the hospital."
Although the overall number of cancer patients has been gradually decreasing over the past decades, doctors are concerned about the increase in the number of colon cancer cases in younger patients.
Experts aren't sure why the increase has occurred and are investigating whether it's modern diets, antibiotics or possibly fungal infections. In addition, late diagnoses and the start of treatment additionally contribute to the high death rate from this disease, as well as the fact that younger people rarely suspect that they are sick, reports Jutarnji list.
An ailing Washington woman says she won't tell her family she's sick to spare them suffering.
"They can't help me. So why should they suffer?"
In the last of the four stages of colon cancer, the cancer has spread to other parts of the body and treatment does not help. The five-year survival rate is about 14 percent.
In the 1990s, only 11 percent of colon cancer occurred in people under the age of 55. However, the number of cases has almost doubled, so patients in those years now account for about a fifth of all diagnoses, according to data from 2021.
Figures from a study published in the journal JAMA Surgery suggest that the number of cases in patients between the ages of 20 and 34 will increase by 90 percent by 2030.
A woman from Washington who wrote about her case on Reddit said that we all have to die sometime, so she is now trying to accept that death is near.
"I want to die watching the sunrise or the sunset or at least on my own terms. I'm only 31 years old and I'm sad that I didn't do more with my life. I also just found out I'm infertile. I never followed my dreams and I'm a total failure in life. I hope there is a next life where I can redeem myself," she said.
Her post was followed by comments from other users telling her that things don't have to be so bleak and that there is still hope. Other cancer patients contacted her.
"Your thoughts are not the best at the moment. I don't know what the situation is like where you live, but there are counseling centers for cancer patients in many places."
Another user advised her to tell her family anyway so her death wouldn't surprise them.
"Those closest to the patients cope with death from cancer more easily if they knew about the disease than if it took them by surprise. This is because they do a large part of the grieving before the death occurs. They have time to say everything they wanted to and come together about everything. "
One user wrote to her: 'I was in the same place you are now. I understand you completely and you are right when you say that cancer is horrible. But still think about treatment. That way you could get a few more years of life in which you could do the things you think you missed doing."
The unfortunate woman's post garnered about fifty comments, and after all the advice she received, she announced: 'I will get treatment. I'm not going to give up right away. Thank you for your understanding and support. I really appreciate it and thank you for your compassion and kind words. I really needed that and I'm grateful. Yesterday I was awful, but today I'm a little better, and that's because of all of you and your advice.'
It affects more and more young people
The 31-year-old is one of several thousand young people diagnosed with colon cancer each year.
At the age of 27, Daniel Lukas first noticed blood in his stool, but for two years he did not get a proper diagnosis because it was first thought that he had colitis, Crohn's disease or appendicitis.
The tumor was not noticed until it had reached stage three, meaning it had spread beyond the colon to the point where it could no longer be treated. Lukas died in 2022 when he was 35.
For people who do survive, the disease takes its toll in other ways. Marissa Maddox was diagnosed with the disease when she was 29, just after giving birth to her son. She wanted to have more children, but the radiation treatment damaged her body so much that she could no longer give birth.
Colon cancer usually starts as a small growth, the so-called. polyp, on the inner lining of the large intestine. Over time, polyp cells begin to divide uncontrollably, which becomes a trigger for cancer.
Colon cancer usually does not cause any noticeable symptoms, so doctors advise everyone over 45 to go for a colonoscopy at least once every ten years.
Early symptoms may include changes in digestion, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, fatigue and weakness.
If detected early, before it spreads to other areas, 90 percent of patients will survive more than five years from their initial diagnosis. But if the cancer is detected late, the five-year survival rate drops to 71 percent. In stage four cancer, the five-year survival rate is only 14 percent.
From 2011 to 2019, the disease rate decreased by about one percent per year, but it was mostly elderly patients.
The disease rate in people younger than 55 has been continuously increasing since the 1990s by one to two percent per year.
Experts estimate that colon cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
