Colon cancer is on the rise at younger adults compared to the past, and more and more people under the age of 40 are diagnosed with this awful disease each year.
Historically, this form of cancer was typical for the older population, but as more and more young people are diagnosed with it, researchers are rethinking screening recommendations and are looking for different treatment approaches.
As per the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer starts in the colon. “Most colorectal cancers start as a growth on the inner lining of the colon or rectum. These growths are called polyps.”
While polyps are quite common and often noncancerous, some can turn into cancer over time.
Dr. Jeremy Kortmansky of Yale School of Medicine explains that colorectal cancer typically exhibits aggressive histological features, which is why it is often diagnosed in later stages.
The symptoms can be rectal bleeding, changes in bowel habits, diarrhea, or constipation. It is very likely these symptoms to be mistaken for less severe issues like hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome.
Of course, as with any other cancer, genetics can play significant role at colorectal cancer.
Obesity increases cancer risk by altering hormones like insulin, promoting cell growth. Chronic inflammation caused by fat tissue also contributes to this risk. A study in JAMA Oncology found that obesity nearly doubles the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.
David Lyon, 26, from Erie, Pennsylvania, who has never been sick in his life except for some minor sport injuries here and there, never imagined cancer could strike him at such a young age. He noticed blood when at the toilet, but because of his age, he didn’t assume it was anything serious.
“I was seeing red when I would go to the bathroom. And I didn’t think much of it,” Lyon told Today.
“I kind of wrote it off because I worked in a sheet metal shop, and I didn’t know if maybe I had a piece of metal on my finger and it scratched something.”
Sadly, his symptoms worsened very quickly, and he got concerned for his health. The abdominal pain he experienced was so severe that he couldn’t stand upright and only found relief when he hunched over.
“That is when I was like, yeah, something’s not right. I need to go get it checked out,” he recalls. “Cancer was the farthest thing from my mind.”
The colonoscopy revealed a mass and further scans determined the cancer had already spread to his liver. Lyon was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.
The doctor who treated him, Dr. Bassam Estfan, said Lyon was his youngest patient, but he did see people in their thirties being diagnosed with this form of cancer. “I quickly got a scan done and they found the cancer had already metastasized to my liver. It was so aggressive,” David told People.
“The doctors didn’t know what to think because I was so young.”
Getting cancer diagnosis is, understandably, a shock — and David Lyon was no different.
“I was mad. Like I just saw red. I didn’t feel sad, I didn’t feel anything, I just felt mad,” he recalled.
Shortly after receiving the diagnosis, Lyon made a decision not to know the full extent of the severity of his condition, so for the first three years of his battle with colon cancer, only his mother was fully aware of how serious things were. Lyon says this helped him stay positive.
From the very start, Lyon refused to let the cancer define his life. Even through the very intense rounds of chemotherapy he went through over the three-year span, he continued going to the gym and playing hockey, a sport he had just taken up the last year of high school. Being out on the ice was his escape, a place where fear and pain seemed to disappear, even if only for a brief time.
Following chemotherapy treatments that shrunk a significant amount of the tumor from Lyon’s colon, he underwent surgery in 2022 to remove the remaining tumors and lymph nodes.
Sadly, however, since the cancer spread to his liver, he was also forced to undergo a liver transplant surgery in 2024.
Thanks to the advancement of medical science, transplant has now become a viable treatment option that extends life for cancer patients with colorectal cancer. This treatment option promises much better results compared to chemotherapy. The end result of the treatment was that he was now cancer-free. One person he had with him through all of this was his dog, Sully.
Lyon adopted the St. Bernard months before the diagnosis.
Lyon’s story is a reminder that we should listen to our body and seek help when we notice something isn’t right, because detecting colon cancer, and any cancer in general, during its early stages increases the chances of a successful treatment.
Doctors stress that symptoms like blood in the stool, unusual fatigue, unexplained weight loss, or changes in bowel habits should never be overlooked — even in young adults.
According to the NHS, some common signs of bowel (colon) cancer to watch for are:
- Feeling unusually tired or fatigued without a clear reason
- Changes in your bowel habits, like diarrhea or constipation
- Bleeding from the rectum
- A persistent feeling that you need to go, even after using the bathroom
- Abdominal pain or cramping
- A noticeable lump in your stomach
- Bloating or swelling
- Unexplained weight loss.
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