KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Doctors are seeing more and more younger adults being diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer and a local mom is sharing her experience and advice to those in their 20s.
Recent studies show people 20 to 29 years old are seeing more colon cancer diagnoses.
Local mom and teacher, Kayla Delich knows the issue all too well.
“Still when going in, I never thought I would be waking up with the, 'You have cancer' statement," Delich said.
What started out as some inconsistent bowel issues turned her life upside down. She had stage three rectal cancer, at 27 years old.
"I didn’t really think anything of it until it was a problem. It was during the shutdown," Delich said.
What came next was multiple rounds of chemo, radiation and surgery. She said one of the most painful parts of it all was not being able to play with her young son, Thomas.
“There were times where I was tired and I am going to take a little nap and do you want to watch TV with me? We watched a little more TV than normal but it was definitely just the times of trying to keep his routine normal," Delich recalled.
Unfortunately, Delich isn't alone in the shocking diagnosis.
"But we noticed recently in younger patients from the age of 18 to 35, there's been a really exponential increase in the numbers of both colon and rectal cancer," Dr. Raed Al-Rajabi, GI Oncologist at the University of Kansas Health System said. “So we really don't know. It's you know, a lot of researchers are working on this and you know, there's speculation, of course."
That's why doctors hope people pay attention to what their body is telling them.
“So you know, one of the important things to think about is blood in the stool anytime you see blood in the stool that's persistent a lot of folks think it may be related to their hemorrhoids, but if it's more than or if it's persistent more than two weeks, I think that should definitely be evaluated by your primary care physician," Al-Rajabi advised.
Delich is now in remission and feeling good. She feels lucky to be alive.
“I think as young women, we just chalk a lot of things up to, oh I just had a baby or just anything. Just know that those things aren’t normal and go find answers, advocate for yourself I should have done it sooner," Delich said.
Al-Rajabi said anyone with a family history of colon cancer should get a colonoscopy 10 years before their first-degree relative was diagnosed. So, if your mom or dad got it at 50, you or your loved one should get checked at 40, not 45.
