After Doctors Deemed Her Treatment 'Non-Urgent,' 29-Year-Old Woman Receives Unexpected, Life-Threatening Diagnosis
Sarah Graham had only just turned 29 when she was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer, a disease that is becoming more prevalent among younger patients
"The first thing I said to [my surgeon] was, 'Am I going to die?' to which he said, 'Look, I hope not,' " Graham recalled about learning of her diagnosis
After undergoing chemotherapy and having part of her colon removed, Graham is currently cancer-free, but she remains in a five-year period of surveillanceThe first question that Sarah Graham recalled asking her doctor after being diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer days following her 29th birthday was, "Am I going to die?"
Her diagnosis came in 2024 after she went to the doctor to discuss a variety of symptoms, including an approximately 44-lb weight gain, extreme pain when going to the bathroom, and blood in her stool. That July, her general practitioner sent her for a stool test, which came back inconclusive, she told Australian news outlet Mamamia.
A colonoscopy was recommended, but Graham learned that it had been deemed "non-urgent," meaning that she was unable to schedule it until November.
The Australian interior designer's symptoms continued, and she told the outlet that she decided to get a second opinion. This led to her receiving a diagnosis that is becoming more prevalent among people her age.
"I explained my symptoms again to her, and said, 'Look, [the blood] is happening almost every time I go to the bathroom now. I'm getting really scared to go to the bathroom,' " she recalled.
Graham, who became lactose intolerant at 22 and was diagnosed and treated for endometriosis at 26, said that doctors initially thought that she had "something like Crohn's or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)."
She said that they told her she was "way too young for bowel cancer."
However, after undergoing a "traumatic" colonoscopy, Graham said that nurses seemed to be giving her a wide berth in the recovery room.
"It was getting to 6 p.m. ... and I was the only one in the recovery room," she said, adding, "And, for some reason, none of the nurses were stopping to talk to me. They were all staring at a distance."
Her mom was brought back, and the surgeon finally told her that they had found a mass.
Graham was told that she needed "to move quickly" to receive treatment and was scheduled for an "urgent CT scan," with the doctor saying that the mass was "likely malignant."
After undergoing additional testing, she was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer."I knew something was wrong [but] I never expected this. I felt let down, I think," she admitted. "I know my body, and I knew what I was living with and no one would listen."
Referring to the original doctor, who believed she might be suffering from hemorrhoids or a fissure, Graham wondered "what would've happened" had she waited until November to undergo her colonoscopy.
Graham had part of her colon removed and went through six months of chemotherapy.
After treatment, she said that she is undergoing surveillance for five years. However, her outlook is "good" at the moment.
"They've put me in a low risk of recurrence category but, of course, there is no life free of the burden of cancer, unfortunately," she explained.
Now, the designer is sharing a lesson that she hopes others will learn from.
"The best piece of advice I was given is that if your doctor says no to something you request, ask them to write that down. You will quickly realize that if they don't want to put their name to denying you something, and something happens later, they don't want to be liable for it," she said, adding, "If anything is out of the ordinary, you need to get it checked."
In 2025, the American Cancer Society noted that people under the age of 50 are increasingly being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The diagnosis is also slightly more deadly than it was in the past.
The reason for the diagnosis becoming more prevalent is unclear. However, a study published in April 2025 suggested that there might be a link between children under 10 being exposed to a bacteria in some strains of E. coli. Another 2022 study links colorectal cancer and the rise in ultra-processed foods; however, this is generally in men.
Read the original article on People
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Australian regulator initiates legal action against firms for advertising medicinal cannabis
(Reuters) -An Australian regulator has initiated federal court proceedings against News Corp Australia-owned News Life Media and other firms for alleged illegal advertising of medicinal cannabis, it said on Friday. The Therapeutic Goods Administration is seeking penalties against the companies, which include natural therapies provider AG Therapeutics, media outlet and public relations firm Straight Up PR. News Corp Australia, a unit of News Corp, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comments. Articles published by News Life Media and Mamamia allegedly featured prohibited representations, testimonials, and endorsements from individuals like healthcare professionals and relatives, breaching advertising codes, the TGA said. The regulator has also alleged that AG Therapeutics used euphemisms like "plant medicine" and promoted medicinal cannabis for treating serious conditions on its website and social media. Under Australia's Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, prescription medicines, including medicinal cannabis, cannot be advertised directly to the public without prior approval or permission from the TGA. "We allege that AG Therapeutics, Mamamia and News Life had been warned on multiple occasions in relation to the alleged unlawful advertising of therapeutic goods," said Anthony Lawler, the head of the regulator.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Federal ruling adds heat to Georgia's transgender care debate
ATLANTA - The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will allow Tennessee to continue to ban gender-affirming care to minors will likely affect a challenge to Georgia's law, advocates said. In a 6-3 decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Court said banning minors from receiving certain treatments for gender dysphoria, the diagnosis given to most transgender people, is not discriminatory. Georgia passed a ban on most gender-affirming medical care for minors in 2023, blocking doctors from prescribing hormone replacement therapy or performing surgery on anyone under 18. The families of transgender children then sued the state saying the law takes away the rights of parents to make health care decisions for their children. Jeff Graham, executive director of LGBTQ+ rights organization Georgia Equality, said families he'd spoken with on Wednesday were "devastated." "Folks are feeling heartbroken," Graham said during a news conference after the ruling. "It's not a good day. I think we had all hoped that we would have a better decision - a different decision." Attorneys representing the state have defended Georgia's law, saying more studies should be done before claiming the benefits of allowing minors to receive hormone or surgical treatment outweigh any potential medical risks, such as blood clots, heart disease or infertility. When asked for comment, the Georgia attorney general's office pointed to a post on X by Attorney General Chris Carr addressing the Supreme Court ruling. "This is a commonsense measure and one we're proud to defend, just like we're doing with our own law here in Georgia," Carr wrote. "We'll always fight to protect our children." State Sen. Carden Summers, a Republican from Cordele who sponsored Georgia's law, said he felt validated by the Supreme Court's decision. "It pleases me to know theSupreme Court holds up the law (and) finds the law to be justified," he said. "That kind of validates what we went through to try to help young people." Georgia's law allows minors who were already receiving hormone therapy before the law took effect on July 1, 2023, to continue receiving the medicine. It also allows doctors to continue to prescribe puberty blockers to minors, which is often the first medical step taken by transgender people. Tennessee's law does not allow the prescription of any gender-affirming medications. A federal judge initially stopped enforcement of Georgia's law but allowed it to resume once it was clear the U.S. Supreme Court would be making its own determination in the similar case. Attorneys for the parents said it was still unclear what the Supreme Court decision would mean for Georgia, but stressed the ruling was limited to gender-affirming care for minors. "There are some windows of hope in the decision," said Cory Isaacson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. ACLU represents the Georgia families suing the state. "They felt that this Tennessee ban was not intentional discrimination against transgender people, but they very much left open the possibility that it's a challenge worth coming along that did involve what they felt like wasn't mutual discrimination, that very well may be something that the court would not sanction," Isaacson said. She said that means there will still be opportunities to challenge laws limiting the participation of transgender people in sports, regulating bathroom use or banning gender-affirming care for adults. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the Supreme Court order that Tennessee's law does not discriminate on the basis of sex, as attorneys challenging the law had argued, but instead blocked the care from people with a specific diagnosis. "We leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process," Roberts wrote. The court's three liberal justices dissented with Roberts' order. Justice Sonia Sotomayor read a summary of her dissent from the bench, saying it plainly discriminates. "By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims," Sotomayor wrote. "In sadness, I dissent." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business Insider
I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 31 despite being fit and healthy. Doctors brushed off my concerns as pregnancy symptoms.
Jenna Scott was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer aged 31 despite being fit and healthy. Misdiagnosed symptoms during pregnancy delayed her cancer diagnosis, complicating treatment. She expects to undergo treatment for the rest of her life to keep the cancer at bay. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jenna Scott a 39-year-old Chief Operating Officer in Peach Tree Corners, Georgia. The following has been edited for length and clarity. For the first three decades of my life, everything was great. I was a cheerleader in middle school and college, where I met my husband. We got married in 2015 and our friends would say we were living a fairytale. I got pregnant with our son, Cameron, that year and I thought, "Oh, how could life get any better?" But in 2017, at the age of 31, I was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer. The doctor said my symptoms were related to my pregnancy My symptoms started when I was around seven or eight months pregnant. I told my obstetrician I had really bad abdominal cramping and rectal and vaginal bleeding, but he said not to worry because they were pregnancy symptoms. It was my first pregnancy so I thought: "This is what pregnancy is like, I can handle it, I'm tough." My abdominal pain didn't go away after I gave birth and my obstetrician put it down to the C-section. Cameron was my main concern. I was always tired, too, but didn't want to complain. I saw a doctor who gave me some IBS pills and said he'd refer me to a GI specialist if they didn't work. They didn't, so he sent me to a GI specialist who told me: "Why are you in my office? You're way too young." On June 29, 2017, just over a year after Cameron was born, I had a colonoscopy and woke up to four nurses, my doctor, and my husband in the room. The doctor told me: We found cancer. Cancer doesn't run in my family and I didn't understand how it could have happened to me at 31. Stage four cancer changed everything I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The oncologist said they couldn't see the cancer that well on the CT scan because I had so much muscle and so little fat. It didn't make sense and I shut down. My husband and mom were more emotional than me. After that appointment, we collected my son from day care and I just held him. He'd just turned one: how could I process the thought that he might not know me? Life quickly became full of doctors' appointments and scans, and my employer took away my larger projects so I could focus on my health. I had worked hard to get them so it felt unfair but in hindsight, they were right. I started chemo on August 9. It took eight hours every other week at the hospital, then a 46-hour drip at home with a portable pack. I had insomnia, hallucinations, and anxiety. I would look at the baby monitor and see one of my coworkers in my son's crib, or tarantulas crawling across my hands. I had 11 months of chemo, stopped for a few months, then was told it had spread to my colon, liver, and lungs, so I started another 11 months of treatments and surgeries. By 2021, I was on a lower "maintenance" chemo dose to keep the cancer at bay. I would take six chemo pills every day, alongside various others, which made me very sick and kept me at home when I wanted to be present for my son. One day I decided I just didn't want to do it anymore and my doctor said I could stop for a while. But by Christmas 2022, the cancer was in my lymph nodes. I waited until the new year to start treatment so I could have my storybook Christmas. Even with insurance, medical bills were a nightmare I had to pay a lot out of pocket that first year before my insurance provider could reimburse me, including $500 upfront for the colonoscopy. That was a lot alongside expenses like our mortgage and day care costs. My husband's insurance plan was really good but I started having issues a couple of years in when appointments were back-to-back and I was racking up bills of about $3,000 a month. The hospital kept calling me for payments and we considered selling our house and moving in with our parents. Eventually, my husband's friends encouraged him to set up a GoFundMe page, which raised $17,000 in just a few hours while I was having surgery, and $30,000 in 17 days. I felt betrayed at first, but my mom helped me see it as a blessing. My son looks out for me Seeing my son grow up has been keeping me together this whole time. We've been reading kids' books about cancer and emotions to Cameron for years and he's starting to understand what's happening. Once he asked me, "Mommy, can you die from cancer?" and I froze. I didn't know what to say. He cries at night about it, holds me, and tells me he doesn't want me to leave. But he takes good care of me. When my hair was longer, he used to put it in a ponytail for me and put chapstick on my lips. Today, my cancer status is "non-detectable." I have chemo every four weeks and expect to be on this maintenance regime indefinitely, an idea I struggled to cope with at first. I work full time, which is hard as I've had a lot of side effects. I've passed out a few times, my body overheats so badly I have to take off all my clothes, I feel like I have to vomit but my body won't do it, and I barely sleep for days at a time. This is my life now. I try to stay busy to take my mind off the tough treatments. When I have chemo on Fridays and Cameron, who's now nearly nine, has a baseball game on Saturday morning, I'm there with my portable pack just doing everything that I can, even though I feel tired and nauseous and vomit a lot. And I'm so grateful to our family and friends who still come over to cook and clean for us after eight years. But because the cancer treatment side effects are cumulative, having a happy life is really hard. I'm hoping I have a long life ahead of me, but I don't want to be on this treatment forever and am perpetually crossing my fingers that science can discover new treatments. I've realized the things I used to stress about are completely manageable and I have so many blessings. I tell everybody that life is good, it's just how you look at it. I want young people to understand that they're not untouchable. You need to get regular check-ups and advocate for yourself.
