In 2018, Casandra Costley, then 32, seen rectal bleeding. But, she thought it was a hemorrhoid and by no means thought to inform her physician.
“I ignored it. I had some rectal ache as properly, which I additionally thought was a hemorrhoid,” Costley, 38, of Utah, tells TODAY.com. “It would come and go.”
Then, in February 2024, Costley felt “run down,” misplaced her urge for food and noticed that her bowel habits modified. Slowly, her new rest room habits dramatically impacted her participation in day-to-day life.
“I struggled to perform,” she says. She finally visited a gastroenterologist, who carried out a colonoscopy, and he or she realized she had Stage 4 colon most cancers. Since her prognosis, she’s been sharing her experiences on social media.
“It’s not one thing that individuals are actually comfy speaking about nonetheless, bleeding and bowel habits,” she says. “(That) means it doesn’t get talked about, and so I assumed I can try this. It’s not laborious for me to speak about it.”
Rectal bleeding
When Costley first seen rectal bleeding, she assumed it was a hemorrhoid, as they run in her household.
“I used to be like, ‘Oh, identical to the remainder of my household,’” she says.
Over the years, the bleeding and ache occurred intermittently, what Costley thought was regular. Last 12 months, she underwent weight reduction surgical procedure and adjusted her food plan, and her signs disappeared.
“I assumed, ‘Oh, perhaps the hemorrhoid healed itself,’” she recollects. “I didn’t know an excessive amount of about it.”
But then the bleeding returned with new signs. Soon, Costley misplaced her urge for food, and her bowel habits modified.
“All day lengthy I felt like I needed to have a bowel motion,” she says. “It was exhausting and actually bizarre, and for some motive I nonetheless didn’t carry it up (to my physician).”
When her signs interfered together with her day by day routine to the purpose the place she struggled to get by the day, she requested her urologist to suggest a GI physician. That physician ordered a colonoscopy, and when Costley woke from it, she knew one thing was improper.
“He confirmed me the image of my tumor,” she says. “He was like, ‘I’m very involved that this seems to be like superior colon most cancers, however let’s get a biopsy.’”
She had by no means thought-about her bleeding and ache might be most cancers.
“I assumed he was going to inform me I had hemorrhoids or IBS or one thing,” she says. “(Colorectal most cancers) continues to be not on most individuals’s radars.”
The physician additionally scheduled a CT scan and an MRI. Three days after the biopsy, Costley knew what kind most cancers she had — invasive adenocarcinoma, which is the commonest kind of colon and rectal most cancers, in response to the American Cancer Society. The CT scan revealed the most cancers had metastasized to her liver and presumably her lung.
Soon, she met with a GI surgeon.
“I used to be pondering, ‘Well, they only must go in and take it out,’” Costley recollects. “When I met the GI surgeon, she defined that the tumor is a T3, which is probably the most superior kind, as a result of it’s grown by the colon … (and) to go in and take it out can be harmful as a result of they’ll’t get clear margins.”
Instead, the surgeon really useful Costley meet with an oncologist, who really useful “aggressive chemo” for 3 months.
After this, she’ll bear scans to see if it is working, and docs will add to her therapy plan.
“If I reply to it and we will get the tumors to shrink down, then they may presumably go in and take out the tumor in my colon,” she says.
She’s felt intense negative effects from chemotherapy after just a few rounds of it.
“The chemo makes me fairly sick,” she says. “Because I’m symptomatic from the most cancers, it takes any signs I used to be having and makes them manner worse.”
Often, she feels pangs in her liver, again and hip, and the nausea and lack of urge for food has develop into “extra intense.” Still, when she feels properly, she tries to train, and feeling ailing hasn’t interfered together with her skill to father or mother.
“I really feel grateful. I’ve been capable of get away from bed daily and nonetheless (attempt) to get my daughter to highschool on my own after I can,” she says. “I like to try this, however it’s laborious.”
Costley and her household typically make jokes and attempt to discover the humor and pleasure in life. Her virtually 12-year-old daughter, Annika, says in her nightly prayers, “Please bless mother’s butt.”
“It makes us snicker, however it additionally brings her consolation, and so we’re utilizing humor to manage,” Costley says. “We perceive the severity of it. It’s too heavy to not snicker about it.”
Colon most cancers in younger individuals
Colon most cancers is the second-leading reason behind most cancers deaths in ladies beneath age 50, TODAY.com previously reported. Experts stay unsure as to why this sort of most cancers has been occurring extra typically in younger individuals however suspect it’s a mix of genetics and life-style elements, reminiscent of being sedentary and a food plan with too many processed meals.
“It’s no less than attainable that these are the issues driving this. We do see extra males than ladies having colorectal most cancers,” Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, informed TODAY.com in 2023. “Whether that’s once more as a consequence of a poor food plan or weight problems and fewer train is no less than a risk.”
As with any kind of most cancers, early detection results in higher outcomes. Recognizing the signs and speaking to a physician about them can result in faster prognosis.
Symptoms embody:
- Blood in stool
- Different bowel habits
- Abdominal ache with no motive
- Unexplained weigh loss
- Fatigue with no trigger
“Patients don’t essentially carry up the signs,” Dr. David Liska, director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic informed TODAY.com in 2023. “It’s a subject that individuals aren’t comfy speaking about.”
‘A membership you do not need to belong to’
When Costley goes to the infusion middle for chemotherapy, she’s typically the youngest individual there, which may really feel very isolating. Sharing her story on social media has linked her with different younger individuals with most cancers.
“It’s a membership that you simply don’t need to belong to, the most cancers membership,” she says. “But it’s a very, actually supportive neighborhood and … there are such a lot of individuals serving to me to grasp what I’m going by.”
Costley additionally appreciates listening to from individuals who have lived with Stage 4 colon most cancers for a very long time.
“Those are my favourite tales as a result of I’ve a lot hope that I’ll get to try this, too,” she says. “Their tales give me hope and provides me much more motive to struggle.”
Since her prognosis, Costley has found “how valuable life actually is.”
“I’m an vital a part of our valuable life in our dwelling, and I’m not saying that to be immodest,” she says. “It’s helped me notice our entire home of playing cards will crumble if one thing occurs to me. So I simply need to struggle laborious to have the ability to say and be an vital a part of my little household.”
Having “the world’s most supportive husband,” mother and father, siblings, step mother and father and step siblings implies that Costley enjoys an enormous help system as she continues her most cancers therapies.
She hopes that by sharing her journey on social media she is going to assist others study extra about colon most cancers and discover hope when going through a worrisome prognosis.
“I hope that anybody who might be in the identical boat learns that these are signs to go to your physician and speak about and in addition not be afraid to speak about it,” she says. “Life is so valuable and so fragile and even in a very, actually scary, laborious time, there’s nonetheless a lot magnificence to be discovered and happiness available.”
