Advocating for Your Health Can Be Life-Saving
- Bianca Harvey, a single mom from Virginia, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at age 33 after experiencing extreme stomach pain. Harvey, whose dad also fought the same disease and beat it, has admitted that her daughter is helping her power through this arduous time. She hopes her cancer journey will inspire others to get screened for colon cancer.
- Most colon cancers can be prevented if people are regularly screened. Screenings are recommended beginning at age 45. However, if you have a family history of this cancer, your doctor may suggest screening sooner.
- Metastatic or Stage 4 colon cancer means that the cancer has spread from the colon to other organs. The most common sites for colon cancer to metastasize are the liver, lungs, and peritoneum (the lining in your abdomen).
- Chemotherapy is often the first line of treatment for metastatic colon cancer. Surgery or a combination of therapies may be recommended depending on where the cancer is located and how widespread it is.
- A colonoscopy is a procedure doctors use to screen for colon cancer by looking inside your colon. While there are benefits to getting a colonoscopy, including the doctor’s ability to remove precancerous polyps in real time, other screening methods also exist.
- Advocating for your health can lead to better patient outcomes. Sometimes this includes going back to your doctor multiple times or seeking a second and third opinion from different doctors.
Now, 35, Harvey, who credits who daughter for giving her the strength to keep fighting, is sharing her story to encourage others on the importance of cancer screenings and early detection.
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“I was teaching sixth-grade science in Colonial Heights, Va. The pain would literally be so bad, sometimes I would ask my teacher’s assistant, ‘Can you watch the class for me?’ And I would go to my car and cry.”
By June of that year, her pain worsened so much that she had difficulty standing, making it hard for her to work, ultimately leading her to take off time from working until she figured out what was wrong.
Expert Resources for Colon Cancer Screening
- Colon Cancer Screening Options And Genetics: Myth Busting With Dr. Heather Yeo
- Can Sitting The Wrong Way While You Poop Increase Your Risk Of Bowel Or Colon Cancer? Assessing The Risks Of Sitting Vs Squatting
- All Americans Should Begin Colorectal Cancer Screening at Age 45, According to New Guidelines; Previous Age Was 50
- Alcohol Intake Has a Big Impact on Colon Cancer Surgery
- Everything You Need to Know About Colorectal Cancer Screenings
- 5 Possible Signs of Colon Cancer; Don’t Be Afraid to Look in the Toilet!
Harvey, who has a family history of colon cancer as her father also battled the disease and beat it, didn’t discover she had cancer until June 19, 2023, after she had a colonoscopy, when she as 33 years old and her daughter was 7.
She further explained to People that she went to “Duke” to see an oncologist and learned she had stage four cancer, later learning, “The reason why I was having so much pain was that the cancer had spread to my pancreas.We talked about surgery. But Dr. DeVito said that because it had spread, there was no way to get it all out. He was like, even with surgery, that doesn’t necessarily dictate your lifespan or if it’s going to come back.
“So I started with chemo. I did 16 months of chemo every two weeks. Then I would also go home with a chemo bag, so I was still being administered chemo for another 46 hours.”
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Despite thinking she would be taken off chemo as the treatment was going well, her followup scan in November 2024 revealed she had a tumor in her lungs.
Now, as she’s going through immunotherapy, she explains, “Chemo kills your good and your bad cells, but with immunotherapy, your body uses itself to fight back with the infusions that you get. In the beginning it was really hard. I felt like I was kind of back at stage one when I used to be in the bed all day. I used to be extremely sick.
“But now that my body is starting to get used to it, I feel better. Immunotherapy isn’t as consistent as chemo was. I go every three weeks and I go for a day and then every other three weeks I go for two days.”
As for what’s kept her pushing through these arduous times, she praises her daughter as her reasoning. She said, “I love my baby. She’s 9 now. I don’t want her to have to grow without a mom. And when I think about that, I do my best to push through, I do my best to have more good days than bad days.
“And I know she looks up to me, I know she depends on me, and that’s one of the biggest things that keeps me here, is her.”
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She concluded, “I feel like the biggest thing that I want people to take from my situation is to just always make sure you advocate for yourself. You know your body better than anybody else. If you feel like something isn’t right, speak up.
“The biggest thing is, if you feel like something isn’t right, get checked. Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. If somebody says no, they don’t think you need a colonoscopy, go to somebody else. If you’re in pain or think something is wrong or you have a family history, get a colonoscopy.”
Colon Cancer vs. GI Symptoms
Gastrointestinal problems can be caused by many factors. One important thing to remember is that colorectal cancer is usually a slow-growing cancer, so symptoms may not be apparent until the cancer has spread. In other words, getting a routine screening, such as a colonoscopy, is very important, rather than looking out for concerning symptoms.
Dr. Zuri Murrell previously told SurvivorNet, “All colon cancer starts as these small growths called polyps. And these polyps have no signs, no symptoms. The only way you can know you have them is if you do a colonoscopy, and you see them.” Moreover, he adds, during the colonoscopy, the polyps can be removed.
However, there are some key symptoms that should prompt you to check with your doctor about potential colorectal cancer. According to the CDC, these include:
- A change in bowel habits
- Blood in your stool
- Diarrhea, constipation, or a feeling that you’re not completely emptying your bowels
- Persistent abdominal pain
- Unexplained weight loss
According to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, while IBS and colorectal cancer share some symptoms, especially in bowel habits, “Colorectal cancer may have additional symptoms of blood in the stool, weight loss, fatigue, and a feeling of incomplete bowel movements.”
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.
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. Fortunately, Stoner pushed for answers when her symptoms 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
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