Powerful Reminder: Don't Ignore Symptoms & Push For Answers
- Claire Boulton was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019 after years of being dismissed by doctors and told the symptoms she was experiencing were just because she was overweight. Now, she’s sharing her story in an effort to help others get their symptoms checked and potentially save lives.
- She urged others to be aware of colon cancer symptoms, like a change in bowel habits, abdominal pain, and blood in stool, and to push for answers from doctors.
- Colonoscopies are the most effective way to screen for colon cancer, according to our experts, and they’re important for both prevention and early detection.
- The advantage of a colonoscopy is that your doctor can remove any polyps found during the test. Many colon cancers can be caught on colonoscopy before they develop or when the polyps are small enough to be removed without surgery.
- The American Gastrointestinal Association lowered the recommended initial age for a colorectal screening from 50 to 45.
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Read More“Remember you are never too young or too fat (like i was told) remember if you feel unwell. Persistent tummy pains, blood in your poo, or weak or unusual bowel habits.”
She continued, “Even just one of these symptoms… please get checked out. And get a blood test, camera test, and CT scan.
“Don’t be fobbed of. You know your body better than anyone.”
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Boulton also recounted how her health journey began in 2017, when she started to see doctors to learn about losing weight and eating better.
Her bowel cancer diagnosis came in 2019.
RELATED: 5 Possible Signs of Colon Cancer; Don’t Be Afraid to Look in the Toilet!
She explained how, soon after, she learned she had an inherited disorder known as Lynch Syndrome MSH6, which increased her risk of developing colorectal cancer, among other cancers.
Inherited Genetic Disorders in Colon Cancer: Lynch Syndrome
Fast forward to October 2020, she underwent a surgical weight loss procedure [gastric sleeve] which she credits for saving her life. Then in April 2021, she had a full hysterectomy.
Her bowel cancer ultimately returned in a different spot in 2022, leading her to undergo a surgical procedure known as a bowel resection and get a stoma bag, which is attached to her stomach to collect her bowel movements.
Now she’s about to undergo her last surgery in her bowel cancer journey, to prevent cancer recurrence, and she insists, “My story isn’t over… it’s just beginning.”
Speaking to Kennedy News and Media in a recent interview, as per the Daily Mail, Boulton spoke about how a nurse informed her she had cancer via a phone call on her wedding day, revealing a polyp removed from her rectum was cancerous.
She said, “I was shocked. You can’t write my life. It was a nurse that rang me up and when I said, ‘I’m literally sitting in the hairdressers about to get married,’ she was like, ‘oh my god I’m so sorry, if I had known I wouldn’t have told you.'”
Boulton also insists her doctors didn’t take her bowel symptoms and complaints “seriously” for five years.
She explained further, “My bowel habits were getting worse. They were liquid, I was finding blood. I’d go to the doctors and they’d say, ‘It’s fine, it’s IBS and hemorrhoids.’ I was like, ‘Okay, but I don’t feel well. I’ve got stomach pains and I’m overweight.'”
However, during that time frame, she was suffering with a chronic condition called fibromyalgia, which causes pain, and she was gaining weight
She said, “When I eventually got my diagnosis I was like, “are you f***ing kidding me. I got told I was too fat and now I have cancer,” before warning, “I’m very much a strong believer of ‘listen to yourself.’ If you think there’s something wrong, I don’t care how many people tell you you’re not, get it checked. Be 100 percent sure.”
Cancer Research Legend Urges Patients to Get Multiple Opinions
Treating Colorectal Cancer
Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel, but generally we use the term colorectal cancer (or colon cancer or rectal cancer depending on the location of the cancer) in the United States.
Bowel cancer, like all cancers, presents its own unique challenges for patients on the road to recovery. But Dr. Heather Yeo, colorectal surgeon at Weill Cornell Medicine, wants to remind people how far the treatment of this disease has come.
“One of the most exciting things about my job is that we’ve made a lot of progress on treatment options,” Dr. Yeo said in a previous interview with SurvivorNet. “However … while they’re living longer, [patients] are still living with colon cancer.”
She explained that patients with stage I to III colon cancer typically need to undergo surgery.
Choosing the Right Surgery for Your Colon Cancer While Avoiding Marketing Gimmicks
During surgery, the surgeon removes the section of the colon with the cancer, along with nearby lymph nodes — a procedure that’s known as a partial colectomy. Surgeons can perform it through an open incision, but increasingly it’s being done laparoscopically through several small incisions using specialized tools. Surgery is followed by chemotherapy to get rid of any cancer cells that might have been left behind.
Related: The Type of Colon Surgery Depends on the Location of the Tumor
After a partial colectomy, surgeons typically reconnect the two ends of the colon. But in some cases, the surgery creates enough of a disruption in the colon that it becomes difficult to have a normal bowel movement afterward. In that case, the surgeon will perform a procedure called a colostomy, creating a temporary or permanent opening through the belly through which stool can exit the body. Wastes collect in a pouch worn on the outside of the abdomen, called an ostomy bag.
“A colostomy or an ostomy, is taking the bowel and attaching it to the skin so the bowel movement would go into a bag, rather than out the anus and rectum,” Dr. Daniel Labow, chief of surgical oncology at Mount Sinai Health System, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview.
Colostomy sounds much worse than it is. “Once you get over the psychosocial effects, you can lead a totally normal life,” Dr. Labow says. “It’s not painful. It’s just getting used to a different way.”
The Spike in Colon Cancer Cases in Young Adults
The average age people are diagnosed with colon cancer is 68 for men and 72 for women, according to the American Cancer Society.
However, the National Cancer Institute reports that since the 1990s, colorectal cancer cases have been rising among adults younger than 50. Research published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians found that the proportion of cases in people younger than 55 “increased from 11% in 1995 to 20% in 2019.”
“We know rates are increasing in young people, but it’s alarming to see how rapidly the whole patient population is shifting younger, despite shrinking numbers in the overall population,” cancer epidemiologist and lead study author Rebecca Siegel said.
Researchers are still trying to determine why younger people are being diagnosed in more significant numbers. Some experts point to risk factors, which include obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking, as a possible explanation for the increase.
“We don’t know for sure why we are seeing earlier onset and death from colon cancer,” Dr. Yeo explained.
“It is likely a combination of factors, including diet and genetics as well as access to care and some environmental factors.”
WATCH: How Doctors Look for Polyps.
Most colon cancers can be prevented if people are regularly screened. The screening usually involves a colonoscopy, in which a long, thin tube attached to a camera is used to examine the colon and rectum. If no polyps are discovered, the following screening won’t be needed for ten years.
“We know that colon cancers can be prevented when polyps are found early,” Dr. Yeo told SurvivorNet. “Lowering the screening age helps somewhat with this, but access to care is a real problem,” Yeo added.
The American Gastrointestinal Association lowered the recommended initial age for a colorectal screening from 50 to 45.
Obesity & Cancer Risk
Being overweight has been linked to several cancers, and it can also affect how well a patient responds to treatment.
Of course, obesity or being overweight will not always cause someone to develop cancer, other conditions associated obesity, like diabetes and heart disease, can lead to complications from cancer treatment if a person already has cancer. In addition, these conditions can sometimes prevent patients from receiving the recommended first-line therapies, as well as increase a patient’s risk when undergoing surgery.
Dr. Andrea Tufano-Sugarman of NYU Langone Health explained the benefits of losing weight to SurvivorNet.
“While all cancers cannot be prevented,” she said, “losing weight is a great way to reduce one’s risk.”
Sugar, The Western Diet And Cancer Prevention
Dr. Tufano-Sugarman said that this is especially true for women; they lower their risk of developing breast cancer and endometrial cancer when they lose weight and keep it off.
Even without losing weight, adopting a more nutritious diet can help.
“Food choices, independent of weight loss, may also help to reduce risk,” Dr. Tufano-Sugarman said.
“Research has shown that the Mediterranean diet (rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, fish and olive oil) is associated with a decreased risk of cancer. Whereas diets rich in red meat may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal and prostate cancer.”
How Can Diet Affect My Cancer Risk?
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), fat tissue “produces excess amounts of estrogen,” which is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, including breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer. The NCI says a person who is severely obese is “7 times” more likely to be diagnosed with endometrial cancer.
Obesity is associated with high levels of insulin, which can lead to colon, kidney, prostate, and endometrial cancer. It can affect cancer survivors in various ways, including the chance of cancer recurrence and overall quality of life.
To learn more about your ideal healthy weight, determine your body mass index (BMI).
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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