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Cancer is something that most people are only starting to worry when they age, but recently, doctors in the United States began to notice a new trend concerning Colon Cancer Cases that occur in young adults in their twenties, the 1930s and 40s. In a new interview with Today , second year teacher Stefania Frost revealed that she was part of this alarming scheme when diagnosed with colon cancer at 36 years old. His only warning sign? A first "very confusing" symptom.

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Frost, who is now 40 years old and teaches Waltham, Massachusetts, said her story started in June 2020 when she noticed pain in her right side the day after her family re -registration in a barbecue.

"I thought it was something I ate or a kind of stomach bug," she said Today .

But when the pain had not disappeared after a week, Frost decided to make an appointment with the doctor. She said they had sent her for imagery at first, thinking that it could be a symptom of appendicitis. But his scans returned showing an inflammation around his colon, so his doctor also provided for a colonoscopy.

It was after the colonoscopy that Frost learned that she did not expect.

"Subsequently, the doctor spoke to me. I wake up, and they said there was a tumor in the colon," she recalls, adding that she was not allowed to have her husband Or his daughter in the room at the time due to pandemic protocols. "It was really difficult and very confusing."

She was diagnosed with stadium 3 colon cancer and said that she had also spread to her lymph nodes - which were all a surprise for Frost, who was only 36 years old and had no other symptom .

Only a few weeks after noticing the pain on his right side, Frost ended up undergoing surgery in mid-July to remove the tumor from his colon and remove 49 lymph nodes, according to Today .

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The story of Frost is probably not as rare as you might assume it. In January, the American Cancer Society (ACS) published a new report revealing that the increase in cases of colorectal cancer - which can start in the colon or rectum and are often simply called colon cancer - in young adults "quickly shifted mortality patterns in adults under 50 years of age.

Consequently, colorectal cancer has gone from the fourth cause of death of cancer in younger men and women and the first in men and the second in women, according to ACS.

"It unfortunately becomes a more important problem every year," Michael Cecchini , MD, co-director of the colorectal program at the gastrointestinal cancer center and medical oncologist at the Yale Cancer Center, said The New York Times , noting that early colorectal cancers have increased by around 2% each year since the mid -1990s.

Researchers are still working to understand why this increase occurs. Some point to genetic changes, lifestyle and food, but many experts maintain that nothing of these elements can fully explain the increase in early colorectal cancer.

"For many of these risk factors, such as smoking, you must be exposed for long periods before the development of cancer", " Andrea Cercek , the codirector of the Center for Young Beginning of colorectal and gastrointestinal cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told the Nyt .

CERCEK added that a large number of patients in the 1920s and 30s do not correspond to the usual risk groups for this cancer.

"Many of our patients are athletes," she said. "Many of them have never been heavy, not even in childhood."

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While experts are trying to determine if other environmental factors may be to blame, APARNA Parikh , MD, oncologist of Frost and medical director of the Center for Young Adult Colorectal Cancer at Mass General Brigham, said Today This other major problem is the “big delay in diagnosis” often for younger patients. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

As Parikh explained, young people are likely to suppose or be told with their doctors that they are dealing with something less serious like hemorrhoids or irritable colon syndrome - even when they have symptoms to colon cancer, as Frost did.

According to the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), abdominal pain, ailments or cramps that do not disappear common signs of colorectal cancer .

Parikh said this type of pain is something you shouldn't ignore. Other possible symptoms of colon cancer that you should monitor, including unexplained weight loss, blood in the rectum or stools and unexplained anemia, according to the oncologist.

Frost, who is almost four years old from her diagnosis of colon cancer, said that she encourages her friends to take their health seriously.

"I try to tell others, especially my friends," go get colonoscopies when you are 45, "she said.

She added that if you notice concerning the symptoms, go to the doctor as soon as possible - with which Parikh agreed.

"Listen to your body. And defend yourself for yourself if you are not sure," advised the oncologist.

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