Colorectal Cancer, Not Muscle Pain
- Leeanne Davies-Grassnick, 38, experienced pain under her ribs while on vacation with her wife and baby. She initially thought she pulled a muscle while carrying her child.
- Her pain turned out to be from colon cancer.
- The most common signs of colon cancer include changes in stool color, bowel movements, pain in the abdomen, and unexplained weight loss.
- Many cases of colon cancer can be prevented and detected early through regular screenings.
Just weeks after her symptoms began, when Davies-Grassnick returned from the Greece vacation to her hometown in London with her family, she learned she had colon cancer that had spread to her liver. More specifically, the loving mom is living with stage 4 BRAF (genetic mutation) colorectal cancer and undergoes chemotherapy treatment. With March being Colon Cancer Awareness month, she is sharing her story to spread awareness for the disease.
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“Three days after getting back to London I was suddenly in a lot of pain. This time the pain was different. It was sharp and constant (not only when I was walking longer distances),” Davies-Grassnick explained. “As a doctor Emma examined me (I didn’t see the need before, after all I thought it was muscular). Immediately Emma said we need to go to A&E [emergency room], she was able to feel my liver, which is not normal. So we headed to A&E with baby Caspar.”
After being referred to the general practitioner section of the emergency room, Davies-Grassnick said she could “barely stand” and was experiencing chest pain.
It was then a doctor told her something was off with her liver, prompting her to undergo blood tests and observations, eventually revealing her liver function was “deranged.”
Within 24 hours, Davies-Grassnick had an ultrasound, CT scan, and additional blood tests.
The CT scan ultimately revealed Davies-Grassnick to have lesions in her liver and doctors recommended she undergo an MRI and possibly a colonoscopy. Days later she was referred to surgical liver consultants – where she was told she had cancer.
“I am 38, young and fit – why would cancer be a potential outcome… So we thought. At the appointment, whilst Caspar was with his grandmother in the waiting room, our lives came crumbling down as they said my tumor markers indicated colon cancer and it had spread to the liver,” Davies-Grassnick added. “We weren’t prepared for that conversation. You can never be prepared for this sort of conversation.”
Following an immediate MRI scan and a PET Scan, Davies-Grassnick learned the colon cancer had only spread to her liver, which had multiple tumors in it – one of them being approximately 6 inches in width.
“I started FOLFOXIRI chemotherapy on May 20, 2022,” she explained. “The plan was to complete six rounds of chemo over a 12 week period and to then reassess surgical options and next steps.”
FOLFOXIRI is a combination chemotherapy regimen that includes folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and irinotecan, according to Cancer Research UK.
The tumor ultimately shrunk by August 2022, which prevented the cancer from spreading furhter, according to Insider, which spoke Davies-Grassnick. However, one of her tumors was unable to be removed via surgery due to its hard-to-reach placement in the liver.
“The plan now is just to continue on chemo for as long as it works,” she told Insider, “and hope science really develops as we continue.”
Now Davies-Grassnick aspires to raise awareness for the cancer she’s battling.
She told Insider, “I hope that it also helps somebody else that reads it, sees it, who’s going through something similar or has a loved one going through it.”
Colon Cancer Screening
Not including skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third-most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women across the United States and the second most deadly. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that more than 106,097 new cases of colon cancer and more than 46,050 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in 2023.
The better news is that colorectal cancer is often preventable and can be detected early through regular screenings, like a colonoscopy. Research has shown that as many as one-third of all colon cancer deaths could be prevented by yearly screenings.
“Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 1 in 23 for men and 1 in 26 for women,” ACS explains. “However, each person’s risk might be higher or lower than this, depending on their risk factors for colorectal cancer.”
If you’re at an average risk of getting colon cancer, which means you don’t have risk factors like a family history or being a smoker, it’s recommended to get regular colonoscopies starting at age 45.
A colonoscopy is a test that uses a long, thin tube attached to a camera, which allows your doctor to look for polyps throughout your colon and rectum. One colonoscopy will count as a baseline, and, if no polyps are found, you’ll get another colonoscopy in 10 years.
Treating Stage Four Colon Cancer
If your doctor discovers a polyp, more frequent colonoscopies will be needed—and depending on the size and amount of polyps, a repeat colonoscopy may be needed every three to five years, and possibly more often, depending on your individual risks.
Meanwhile, there are other colon cancer screening tests, other than a colonoscopy. Other options include stool tests that detect blood or DNA, and flexible sigmoidoscopy, which checks only the lower third part of your colon. You should speak with your doctor on whether any of these tests would be good substitutes or additions to colonoscopy, based on your personal preferences and risks.
SurvivorNet’s Colon Cancer Overview
The benefit of a colonoscopy is that your doctor will be able to remove any polyps found during the test. Many colon cancers can be caught on colonoscopy prior to developing, or when the polyps are small enough to be removed without surgery.
Dr. Heather Yeo, a surgical oncologist and colorectal surgeon at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, previously spoke with SurvivorNet in hopes 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. “However, patients are still — while they’re living longer, they are still living with colon cancer, and so I think it’s really important that we talk about how some of the things in your life affect you.”
She added, “We know that colon cancers can be prevented when polyps are found early. Lowering the screening age helps somewhat with this. But access to care is a real problem.”
And increasing access is vital in making sure there are no racial disparities within the world of colorectal cancer. Whites and Asians are significantly more likely to be up to date with their colonoscopies than African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.
Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer
The sneaky thing about colorectal polyps and colorectal cancer, according to SurvivorNet’s medical experts, is that they don’t necessarily lead to symptoms, which is the reason why screening is necessary for anyone over the age 50 (and sometimes earlier), even people who don’t feel sick.
When symptoms do arise, one of the most common is a change in bowel habits – which could range from diarrhea or constipation to differences in the shape or size of bowel movements. Noticing a difference in stool color, particularly black or tarry stools, can indicate bleeding from a tumor that is located deep in the colon.
Other symptoms can be more difficult to decipher as cancer, such as abdominal pain and unintentional weight loss. Additionally, some tumors bleed a small amount over a long period of time, which results in anemia (a low red blood cell count), which a blood test can pick up.
A few other possible symptoms of colon cancer are:
- Cramps
- Gas
- Weakness
- Tiredness
Any symptoms that are new or abnormal for you, or that persist for more than a week or two, should urge you to contact your doctor.
Dr. Paul Oberstein Breaks Down Symptoms Of Colon Cancer
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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