For 36-Year-Old Mom Misdiagnosed Urinary Tract Infection, Turned Out To Be Stage 4 Colon Cancer– Tips For Pushing Your Doctor

After a full-body CT scan revealed she had a 5cm tumor in her bowel and stage 4 cancer, Gardner-Lawson began chemotherapy. Now, she’s hoping her story will inspire other people her age to get bowel cancer screenings, she told SWNS in a recent interview, according to the Daily Mail,

The loving wife and mom of three, a five-year-old son and one-year-old twins, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and tested positive for the BRAF V600 genetic mutation-positive, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the resilient woman, who works as a human resource manager.

Genes in our cells provide instructions for making proteins that keep our bodies functioning. Some genes, like BRAF, are specifically involved in cell growth and division. When the BRAF gene is mutated (abnormal), it can lead to the production of a protein that continuously signals cells to grow — even when they’re not supposed to. One particular type of BRAF mutation, called BRAF V600E, is present in around 5% to 10% of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

RELATED: New Hope for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Targeted Approach With a Drug Called Encorafenib Gets FDA Approval

Historically, metastatic colorectal cancer driven by a BRAF V600E mutation has been more difficult to treat, and patients with this mutation have often had poorer outcomes than those without it. Despite the significance of this mutation, many patients with advanced colorectal cancer are never tested for BRAF status. This can delay or prevent them from getting the most appropriate treatments.

Recounting how she first booked an appointment with her doctor when she began suffering from lower back pain and was misdiagnosed until her pain worsened, she told SWNS, “There was just no change and by my third dose [of antibiotics], I’d really deteriorated. I was basically bedridden. I felt so unwell, and the back pain had spread to my abdomen. It was only after a fourth appointment with her GP on September 19 that she was urged to go to [the hospital].

Gardner-Lawson ultimately urged the medical team at the hospital to do a full-body CT scan as her “infection markers” in her blood were rising and a surgeon told her it seemed she had “fluid build-up” in her abdomen.

RELATED: Young Mom, 36, With Stubborn Hemorrhoids While Pregnant Learned Her Bottom Pains Were Signs of Colorectal Cancer 

Further scans discovered the large tumor on her colon that spread to liver, peritoneum [a membrane that surrounds your abdominal organs], and lymph nodes in her stomach.

She was then transferred to another hospital to undergo a four-hour surgery in October to get the tumor, as much as possible, removed. Gardner-Lawson is now on her fifth of eight chemotherapy rounds, taking three different drugs each round.

Despite her situation, Gardner-Lawson remains hopeful, insisting, “If all goes well, I still have a chance at achieving a ‘no evidence of disease’ status, but it all depends on these next couple of years. I’m young enough that they’re not considering it a terminal diagnosis just yet.’

“The plan is, once I’ve had my sixth round of chemo, they’re hoping I’ll have responded well. All being well, I’ll need to be booked in for a second surgery to remove remaining stomach lymph nodes and two tumors on my liver.”

The following timeline of her cancer journey was shared on Gardner-Lawson’s GoFundMe page:

• Late August: Pain, leading to UTI misdiagnosis and multiple rounds of antibiotics
• September 24: Scan showed perforation of bowels
• September 30:  MRI confirms Stage 4 bowel cancer, which spread to her liver and lymph nodes
• October 3: Surgery to remove the primary tumor and nearby areas. Now she’s living with a stoma
• November 7: Start chemotherapy [taking drugs FolFox and Avastin]
• November 19: DNA analysis from California identified the BRAF v600 (MSS) mutation
• November 21: Chemotherapy strengthened to Folfoxiri and Avastin

RELATED: A Targeted Ovarian Cancer Treatment– The Role of Avastin (Bevacizumab)

Scans set for this month will reveal whether the chemotherapy treatments have worked and whether she can have surgery.

Gardner-Lawson also told SWNS, “If my disease was caught earlier, it would’ve been easier to treat… I think the minimum age for testing needs to reduce.”

Meanwhile, she’s been taking to Instagram to offer updates into her health journey. She also recently shared a sweet photo of her three children expressing her gratitude.

“We have had a rollercoaster of a year as a family, with some incredible highs and equally incredible lows. Perspective is everything, and I have never felt more blessed for what I have – a best friend of a husband and three wonderful children. My world,” she captioned the post.

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A post shared by Zoe G-l (@cancer_is_a_pain_in_the_butt)

“The support from our incredible friends and family over the latter part of this year means everything to us. We couldn’t have done it without you all. Merry Christmas everyone and here’s to a healthier 2025 .”

Coping With Advanced Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is very treatable and curable if caught early. However, treatment may become more intense when the cancer is detected in later stages.

Chemotherapy is known to improve survival in patients with metastatic or stage 4 colon cancer.

“Colon cancer most commonly spreads to the lung and to the liver,” Dr. Heather Yeo, a board-certified in general surgery, colon and rectal surgery, and complex general surgical oncology, explains to SurvivorNet.

“We try not to do surgery right away. If you think about it, we can’t cut out all of the disease, and any time you do surgery, you’re actually compromising a patient’s immune system,” Dr. Yeo explains.

The most common therapy is called FOLFOX, and your doctor may add medications like irinotecan (FOLFIRI) or cetuximab, depending on how well your tumor shrinks with treatment and other specifics about your particular tumor.

“If you respond really well, then we keep you on that until you stop responding really well. But if after a few cycles, your disease has progressed, that’s when we think about adding other additional chemotherapies,” Dr. Yeo said.

WATCH: Not all stage 4 colon cancer patients are the same.

Colon cancer screenings can involve at-home tests such as Cologuard, but a colonoscopy is more effective, according to SurvivorNet experts. A colonoscopy involves examining the colon and rectum with a long, thin tube attached to a camera.

If no polyps are discovered, the following screening won’t be needed for ten years. Polyps are small growths in the colon that are not yet cancerous but can potentially develop into cancer.

“When we see a polyp, we actually physically take the polyp out through the colonoscope,” Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon and Director of the Cedars-Sinai Colorectal Cancer Center, explained.

The cancer starts when abnormal lumps called polyps grow in the colon or rectum. It takes up to 10 years for a colon polyp to become full-blown cancer, according to SurvivorNet experts.

The American Gastrointestinal Association lowered the recommended initial age for a colorectal screening from 50 to 45. However, experts recommend screening earlier for some people who may be at an increased risk of developing colon cancer.

WATCH: Colon cancer symptoms.

The most poignant signature of colon cancer is a change in bowel habits. Changes in the size or shape of bowel movements may cause constipation or diarrhea. A change in stool color, particularly black or tarry stools, can indicate bleeding from a tumor deep in the colon.

Other symptoms can be harder to pinpoint, such as abdominal pain and unintentional weight loss. Finally, some tumors bleed a small amount over a long period of time, resulting in anemia (low red blood cell count) that is picked up on blood work.

More on Colon Cancer in Younger 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 cases in people younger than 55 “increased from 11% in 1995 to 20% in 2019.”

 WATCH: Debunking misconceptions about colon cancer.

“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 told SurvivorNet. “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.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor

If you are facing a colon cancer diagnosis, here are some questions you may ask your doctor.

• What are my treatment options based on my diagnosis?
• If I’m worried about managing the costs of cancer care, who can help me?
• What support services are available to me? To my family?
• Could this treatment affect my sex life? If so, how and for how long?
• What are the risks and possible side effects of treatment?

Advocating for Your Health

Patients advocating for their health can lead to better patient outcomes. This is especially important when you find your doctor has misdiagnosed your symptoms. Zoe Gardner-Lawson was misdiagnosed more than once, but fortunately, she pushed for more answers when her pain worsened, leading to her correct diagnosis.

A component of advocating for yourself in healthcare includes going back to the doctor multiple times and even getting multiple opinions.

Dr. Steven Rosenberg is the National Cancer Institute Chief of Surgery, and he previously told SurvivorNet about the advantages of getting input from multiple doctors.

Cancer research legend urges patients to get multiple opinions.

“If I had any advice for you following a cancer diagnosis, it would be, first, to seek out multiple opinions as to the best care. Because finding a doctor who is up to the latest of information is important,” Dr. Rosenberg said.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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