A deadly cancer that can go unnoticed for years is exponentially affecting young people – tearing families apart in the process.
While the number of cancer cases has steadily declined in recent decades, scientists have been baffled by the explosion in cases of colorectal cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, in younger adults who have traditionally been at low risk of the disease.
Daniel Lucas, then 27, developed blood in his stool in 2017 but was misdiagnosed for two years while doctors thought he had colitis, Crohn’s disease and appendicitis.
The tumor wasn’t discovered until it reached stage three, meaning it had spread outside the colon. Daniel died in 2022 at the age of 35.
Jordan Ireland-Knight, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was prevented from seeing his son grow up after he was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at just 29 years old.
Jordan (center) with his parents. He died of colon cancer at the age of 31, leaving behind a wife and a son
Daniel (right) became friends with makeup mogul Jeffree Star after the two met in Los Angeles in the early 2000s
In the 1990s, only 11 percent of colon cancer cases occurred in people under 55. But tragically, cases have now more than doubled, with people in this age group now making up a fifth of all new diagnoses, according to the latest data for 2021.
Experts aren’t sure what’s behind the unprecedented surge and are investigating whether modern diets, antibiotics or even fungal infections could play a role.
Daniel was a talented makeup artist from the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
At the end of 2016, he started feeling tired and having intestinal problems, but put off going to the doctor because he thought it was just nerves or stress.
Blood in his stool in 2017 finally led him to see a doctor, but for two years his cancer persisted misdiagnosed.
Doctors initially thought he was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sent him home from the hospital.
Then they thought it was colitis, then appendicitis, and he underwent surgery to remove his appendix, but that turned out to be unnecessary.
What happened to Daniel is being told more and more often because doctors don’t usually suspect cancer in people so young, which can lead to misdiagnosis.
After healing from surgery, Daniel’s symptoms persisted.
Doctors suspected he might have Crohn’s disease.
His aunt, Tami Pangelina, told DailyMail.com: “They never once offered him a colonoscopy or talked about maybe colon cancer, nothing, because of his age. ‘He was so young.’
At the age of 27, Daniel was finally diagnosed with stage three colon cancer.
Data from JAMA Surgery showed that colon cancer among people ages 20 to 34 is expected to increase by 90 percent by 2030. Doctors aren’t sure what’s driving the mysterious surge
However, if the cancer is not detected until the third stage, the five-year survival rate drops to 71 percent. In stage four, only 14 percent of patients live another five years.
Daniel began seeing an oncologist in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he lived, and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
Doctors told him they could get rid of everything, but a few months later his symptoms returned.
Since the cancer had returned, he received further chemotherapy and radiation and was again declared cancer-free.
Ms Pangelina said: “He was happy.” He was trying to live life. He had so many things to look forward to.’
In April 2021, Daniel went to Star’s ranch in Wyoming with his best friend, makeup mogul Jeffree Star.
The couple met in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, “when they were both just trying to make ends meet,” Ms. Pangelina said. “They met and something clicked and that was it.”
Daniel and his aunt Tami in Central Park on a trip to New York in March 2022
Daniel is being treated in hospital for colon cancer
In Wyoming, the black ice caused the two to have a car accident in which the car overturned.
When he was in the emergency room because of the accident, doctors again found a mass in Daniel’s stomach.
He flew back to Las Vegas to see his doctors, but they told him nothing more could be done.
The cancer grew to the point that Daniel could no longer eat because the tumors blocked his intestines and he could no longer digest anything.
He had to get another bag for his stomach, which he wore for 18 hours a day to get his nutrition in liquid form.
“Everything he loved – food, beauty, his aesthetic as a human being – was taken away from him.” “It was really, really, really devastating,” his aunt said.
“We went to the hospital and he was gone five days later,” Ms Pangelina said. Daniel died on November 26, 2022.
“He was a beautiful person.” “He loved life and wanted to do so much more,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jordan, from Pennsylvania, noticed he was losing weight in October 2018 when he noticed he was having intestinal problems, was losing weight and had blood in his stool.
His doctor recommended a colonoscopy.
His mother, Lynne Ireland-Knight, told DailyMail.com: “Thank God his doctor didn’t just say you’re young, that’s not a problem because unfortunately people hear that all the time.”
In the United States, regular screening for colon cancer does not begin until age 45.
Ms. Ireland-Knight was about to leave for work when Jordan called her and immediately said, “Mom, they found a mass.”
“Our whole world changed then,” she said.
The 29-year-old was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. He tried several different treatments and surgeries and participated in clinical trials.
After his first round of chemotherapy, he had to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, but the surgeon discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver.
In January 2021, the surgeon told Jordan and his family that nothing more could be done.
They recommended Jordan be moved to hospice, but he wasn’t open to it.
“He was very angry, and rightly so. “He was 31 years old.”
Jordan died on March 8, 2021, leaving behind “a beautiful daughter-in-law and a beautiful grandson,” Ms. Ireland-Knight said.
Ms Ireland-Knight remained by his side the night Jordan died.
“I gave him his medication 24/7,” she said. “I still set the alarm the night I had to get up every three hours and tell him.”
Since his death, Ms Ireland-Knight has become a death doula – someone trained to advise, inform and provide emotional comfort to people near death.
“I work with people to hopefully make their death experience better than my son’s,” she said.
“His legacy will be my transformation, and I believe he saved his younger brother’s life.”
Because of Jordan’s experience, Ms. Ireland-Knight’s younger son, who is 30, had his first colonoscopy at age 26 and now gets it every three years.
Like Ms. Pangelina, Ms. Ireland-Knight also became an ambassador for the fight against colon cancer.
Colorectal cancer usually begins as a small growth, called a polyp, on the inner lining of the colon or rectum – part of the large intestine.
Over time, the cells in these polyps can divide uncontrollably, causing cancer.
In its early stages, it often causes no or very few symptoms, which is why doctors say everyone age 45 and older should get cancer screenings once a decade. It is also possible to undergo an early check-up after consulting your doctor.
Early warning signs of the disease may include a change in bowel habits, blood in the feces, unexplained weight loss, and sudden fatigue or weakness caused by blood loss.
If it is detected in its early stages, before it spreads to other areas, the charity will help Fight colon cancer says nine out of ten patients will live longer than five years after their diagnosis.
However, if the cancer is not detected until the third stage, the five-year survival rate drops to 71 percent. In stage four, only 14 percent of patients live another five years.
EXCLUSIVE Tragic victims of America’s young colon cancer epidemic: From ‘healthy’ father killed at 29 to make-up artist, 35, whose stage three tumor was misdiagnosed three times
