Two fit and healthy young men who were diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in their 30s have revealed the symptoms you shouldn’t miss.
Chris Lopez, from Texas, was slim, worked out regularly at the gym, and ate a balanced, high-protein diet that he adhered to by meticulously preparing his meals.
But the 30-year-old started feeling intense “throbbing” pain in his stomach that wouldn’t go away. He also lost weight despite eating the same thing, going from 175 to 145 pounds on his six-foot frame.
Initially, Mr. Lopez attributed it to food poisoning after he had just gone on vacation, assuming he had just eaten “sushi, fish or something that was undercooked.” He was prescribed antibiotics and then an anti-parasitic medication when that didn’t work.
But after becoming “like a skeleton” and noticing blood in his stool, he went to doctors who discovered a grapefruit-sized tumor in his colon.
Meanwhile, CrossFit enthusiast Chris Rodriguez revealed how he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 35, despite also eating clean foods high in protein and fiber.
He began suffering from stomach aches and constipation in 2023, which would not go away. This led the Minnesota native to make an appointment with his doctor, with scans ultimately revealing a four-inch tumor in his rectum.
The conventional explanation for the rise in colon cancers among young people is poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and obesity – but doctors say they are seeing more and more patients like Lopez and Rodriguez who are young, fit and healthy.
Pictured above are Chris Lopez, who was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer at age 30, and Chris Rodriguez, who was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer at age 35 years old.
The graph above shows the increase in colorectal cancers in the United States among men and women from 2000 to 2021.
Both men are now in remission, but revealed their cases to warn others of the warning signs that need checking.
They also stressed that it is especially important for young patients to know the symptoms and seek medical attention promptly, because getting a diagnosis can take months, increasing the risk of the cancer spreading.
Revealing how he was diagnosed, Mr Lopez – who is a chef – said: “I told my doctor that my stomach felt worse than before and I told him that I had noticed blood in my stools .
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“I was scared because it’s the first time I’ve seen this… when I went to the bathroom I just saw blood.
“He thought it might be a parasite, so he prescribed an anti-parasitic medication.”
Eight months after her symptoms began, a gastroenterologist finally ordered a colonoscopy, just to be safe.
At the time the cancer was detected, it was stage three B, meaning it had spread to nearby lymph nodes but had not yet spread throughout the body.
Mr Lopez was diagnosed in December 2019 and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy to shrink the tumor – then had surgery to remove it in 2021.
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He is now in remission, but has tests once a year to make sure the cancer has not returned. He is also now married and the father of a three-year-old daughter.
Mr Rodriguez – who is an improv actor – said: “I wasn’t feeling very well, like I was just feeling a little off, so I decided to go to the doctor.
“The next thing I knew I was in surgery, and the next thing I knew I was in chemotherapy.”
Describing the moment he was diagnosed, he said: “When I received this test and this diagnosis at an age that was not expected, it was incredibly out of left field.
“In my mind, I wasn’t supposed to pay attention to that.”
Mr Rodriguez was diagnosed in 2023 and underwent chemotherapy every two weeks for 16 weeks to treat his four-inch tumor.
He then underwent radiotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor, before being declared cancer-free.
“You need to be informed about this cancer that sets in at an early age,” Mr. Rodriguez said.
“I’ll tell anyone, any day. I’m open for others to have it on their radar.
Once considered a disease of the elderly, colon cancer is experiencing a resurgence among those under 50, who are generally not at risk – with cases increasing by 50% over the past three decades.
Some doctors say it’s too simplistic to attribute this change solely to unhealthy diets and obesity.
All sorts of other factors are now being scrutinized, including pollution, microplastics and artificial additives used in food.
Some have even blamed exposure to artificial light, saying it can disrupt the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, disrupting the gut microbiota and making a person more prone to damaging mutations in intestinal cells.
And restrictive alternative diets, such as vegan and vegetarian options, have also come under scrutiny, with experts warning that meat alternative foods could increase the risk of disease.
Studies also suggest that eating lots of red and processed meat could increase risk.
Warning signs of colon cancer in young people include a change in toileting habits, blood in the stool, rectal bleeding with bright red blood, diarrhea or constipation, unexpected weight loss and cramps or abdominal pain.