Lauren

The blood in my stool became more of an everyday thing that lasted for months.

From my perspective, that frequency was abnormal.

My GI doctor thought it was more than likely hemorrhoids, but still recommended a colonoscopy because no matter what, blood in stool, especially in young adults, is not normal and should always be inspected.

What was found from my colonoscopy?

A 20-millimeter polyp.

To put it into perspective, a 10-millimeter polyp is considered big.

The polyp was sent to pathology, and in a few days, I received a call.

They discovered that cancer had formed on the polyp.

It's more of a rare cancer, less than 1% of colon cancers, that is ultimately a little bit more aggressive than the average colon cancer.

At this point, I've been staged at stage 3A after getting a part of my colon removed.

And six weeks later, I will now be starting chemotherapy in five days.

The doctors do feel I have an 80 to 90 percent chance of being cured with chemo's assistance.

But what's more interesting about this cancer is that it is most common in younger people around later 20s, early 30s.

The doctors mentioned that they are seeing colon cancer rise more often in young people.

If you have had blood in your stool, you more than likely do not have colon cancer, but you should get yourself checked by a doctor if you are having this symptom just to make sure there's nothing going on.

Common symptoms for anyone out there.

Obviously, we have the blood in stool, but there's also changes in your bowel habits.

diarrhea, constipation, incomplete bowel movement, so like the constant urge to go, but you can't empty yourself, like nothing really happens, abdominal pain, persistent pain, cramps, really gas pain, the feeling of being bloated.

There's a lot of other ones too that are now being connected, like general weakness, fatigue, unexplained weight loss.

So if you or anyone you know is experiencing any of these,