According to research done by the American Cancer Society, it's becoming increasingly common for younger people—in their 20s, 30s and 40s—to develop colorectal cancer, possibly due to diet, alcohol consumption and the different stresses faced by today's younger generations.
Since patients are not advised to receive their first colonoscopy until the age of 45, countless cases in younger people have been missed until much later, making treatment more difficult to implement and less effective overall.
Since new mom of twins and TikToker Bri Mahon was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 31, she's made it her mission to inform people about her symptoms so that if they share similar symptoms, they might be able to catch their own diagnosis early.
In a viral TikTok video, Mahon walked viewers through her most basic symptoms, starting with thinking she was experiencing IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) symptoms.
"Going way back, in the past few years, I have had just gut issues in general, a lot of bloating, and a lot of signs that would point more towards IBS."
"I've been very careful with my diet, eating very clean, and I have cut out diary, gluten, and soy. I've taken allergy tests and blood tests, and nothing concerning came up as far as my white blood cell count or any severe issues with going to the bathroom."
"I was just irritated and bloated a lot."
Mahon also experienced issues with her anxiety and energy-levels but wasn't sure what to think of it at first.
"Then I started to notice a change in my anxiety and my fatigue about two years ago."
"Two years ago, I had to step back from the work that I was doing. I was having panic attacks, and I think it's just because my body was really, really, really tired, and going through what it was going through, which I now know was growing a tumor."
When she had her twins prematurely, she credited her new symptoms to being a stressed mother with babies in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).
"This past year in September, I gave birth to my twins. They're premature."
"When they were born, I started noticing blood in my stool shortly after, so I thought it was just hemorrhoids from the pregnancy, or that my IBS symptoms were flaring up, and I just kind of thought that was it."
"My boys spent four months in the NICU, so I wasn't even really thinking about what I was going through. I thought it was stress. I thought it was depression. I thought it was anxiety."
"All of these symptoms were coming up again, and my fatigue was really bad, but again, I justified it in my head as, 'My boys are in the NICU, I am insanely stressed out, I'm internalizing a lot, and I am just stressed.'"
"So of course I'm bloated, of course I'm constipated sometimes, but it was when I found and started to see more regular blood in my stool I got pretty concerned. Then I really got concerned when the blood turned a lot darker."
Mahon reached out to her doctor, who referred her to a Gastroenterologist (GI), who conducted a colonoscopy.
"I went to the GI, and at first she thought it was an autoimmune disease, but then once I got the colonoscopy she told me she was pretty confident it was cancer."
"We did ten biopsies during that colonoscopy, and then of course we found out it was Stage 3 Cancer."
You can watch the video here:
Fellow TikTokers applauded Mahon for her honesty and for helping to raise awareness.
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Mahon remains grateful that she found out as quickly as she did about her cancer diagnosis so that she could do a form of chemotherapy with pill capsules rather than strictly traditional chemotherapy and radiation.
She's found her cancer journey to be a little different than what is portrayed in movies, simply because her cancer was caught so early and medical professionals were able to do something about it.
She plans to continue to share her story and symptoms so that she can draw attention to the symptoms that others might dismiss, which might be the exact symptom that gets a patient the diagnosis they need.
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