A doctor who discovered her own stage 4 colon cancer at age 37 has shared the two mild symptoms she experienced, as she hopes to make others aware of the warning signs
You need to be aware of these two colon cancer warning signs.
A gynaecologist who discovered her own stage 4 colon cancer has said she was only experiencing two mild symptoms when she made her diagnosis and never would have caught her cancer if she hadn't known what to look out for. Dr Lauren Juyia is now trying to spread awareness about the lesser-known symptoms of colon cancer, as she hopes to help other people get more informed.
The doctor said she began feeling fatigued in August 2022 but had initially put it down to just being a part of life, until it was paired with a sense of "pelvic heaviness" which left her with a gut feeling that something was wrong. When the sense of heaviness turned into her feeling a "pelvic mass", she booked herself in for an ultrasound, where it was discovered she had larger-than-normal masses by her ovary.
Dr Juyia told Good Morning America: "Having a background in obstetrics, we describe size by weeks of pregnancy and so I was like, 'Oh my god, I have a 16-week-size mass.' From experience, I could tell that this was my ovary."
The doctor, from Florida, US, consulted with other doctors and sought multiple opinions, and said she knew it wasn't "going to be good" when the mass grew in size from 8cm to 24cm in the space of two weeks. Dr Juyia said she had "never seen anything benign" grow that fast so had suspicions that the masses would be cancerous, but had initially assumed it was ovarian cancer due to the placement of the masses.
By September 2022, she was undergoing surgery to have the masses removed after they had spread to her ovaries, uterus, omentum, appendix, and even her abdominal area. And the doctor insisted that despite the rapid growth of the masses, she wasn't experiencing any severe symptoms, and aside from the "pelvic heaviness" she could feel, her only other symptom was fatigue.
She explained: "I was a little tired in the afternoon for about two months previous to this and as a mum with two little kids - I had been recently nursing them, they were still waking up in the night, I work full time - I didn't think anything of saying, 'Oh, I think I need a tea in the afternoon.' Whereas maybe someone in their 50s or 60s would be much more tired from stage 4 tumours taking up their energy."
According to the NHS, other symptoms of colon or bowel cancer - which is the general term for cancer that begins in the bowel and can include colon or rectal cancer - can include:
- changes in your bowel movements, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
- needing to poo more or less often than usual for you
- blood in your poo, which may look red or black
- bleeding from your bottom
- often feeling like you need to poo, even if you've just been to the toilet
- tummy pain
- a lump in your tummy
- bloating
- losing weight without trying
- feeling very tired for no reason
Dr Juyia was eventually diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and began six months of chemotherapy treatments, during which time she kept working in order to take her mind off of her health battle. She explained that helping her patients was "therapeutic" for her and helped her "forget [she] was ill".
In March last year, Dr Juyia underwent one more surgery to remove an inactive tumour, and at the time, tests had shown she had "no evidence of disease." The mum-of-two said her experience has pushed her to encourage others to be mindful of the early warning signs of the disease such as fatigue and a sense of "pelvic heaviness" - especially for those of a younger age.
In the UK, bowel cancer screening is available to anyone aged 60 to 74 and is currently being expanded to also include everyone between 50 and 59. But Dr Juyia has urged those younger than the screening age - which is 45 in the US - to pay attention to their symptoms, as they may go unnoticed for longer and could pose a risk if not taken seriously.
She said: "People that are younger than the screening age should still be paying attention to our symptoms because we're not eligible for screening usually. We might not have any symptoms because we are young, and our bodies are more resilient. We can tolerate more symptoms.
"We just need to be aware if we're not lucky enough to be in the range where we should be screened. And if you are in the range that you should be screened, take advantage of that. Don't squander that opportunity. There's a reason we want to screen you and keep you safe."
A version of this story was first published on 30th April 2023.
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