Colorectal cancer is an ailment that’s not typically associated with younger people.

“I was 25 and I started experiencing symptoms,” said Vannora Hawkins, of Alexandria, Virginia. “It started out with abdominal pain. Then I started having vomiting and diarrhea. Then I started to have blood in my stool.”

When she first went to the doctor for her symptoms, they couldn’t figure it out. She went through blood tests and X-rays.

“They saw that I had an abscess growing in me,” she said. “They couldn’t really locate where it was, but they thought it was my appendix. “

So, she was scheduled for an appendectomy. As she was being prepped for surgery, the doctors took another look and realized it was something else. A pathologist was called in, a biopsy was taken and she was prepped for a different surgery.

“So once they opened me up and did a hemicolectomy, they diagnosed me at stage 4 because it had already went through my rectal wall and into my lymph nodes,” she said.

She started a first course of chemotherapy. The cancer returned in her bladder. So, she did more chemo and another surgery.

After 13 months, she was told she was finally cancer-free.

While her story does have a positive ending, she also said it could have been caught and treated sooner, if the doctors would have done a simple screening.

“Because I was only 25, they never thought to give me a colonoscopy or any kind of colon screening,” she said.

According to the American Cancer Society, 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in patients under age 55 — double what it was a few decades ago.

Also, because of less common screening, those under 55 are 60% more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer than those who are older.

Now, Hawkins advocates for people to listen to their bodies, push for answers and get screened. If you don’t want to do the colonoscopy, she said there are new screenings such as Cologuard that can be done at home.

“That’s a non-invasive way to do it,” she said. “You just send in your stool sample. So
there’s no reason to not get tested these days.”